We Are
by sasstana
Summary: EPONINE/ENJOLRAS. Modern College AU. Continuation of 'Light Is Caught In Your Eyes'. Eponine Thenardier is heartbroken over Marius Pontmercy when she officially meets Aaron Enjolras in the Cafe Musain, a friend of Marius, who seems to always be going on about school. She's in love with Marius and he doesn't believe in love, but one look can change a lot. Rated K (for now).
1. Chapter 1

_**Author Note: Hey guys, it's Serena! So I got much positive feedback on my modern AU Eponine/Enjolras one-shot, 'Light Is Caught in Your Eyes'. You can find the original one shot on my profile, but this first chapter is basically the same, just with a few changes that will be explained. Okay, so first off, in the one-shot, I mentioned that they were high school students and talked about the Les Amis and their cause, which was protesting against their school. However, I'm making them college students, just because I see that as being more realistic and easier to write, and also, the cause (which is the modernized) will not be mentioned much at all for the time being. When you read the chapter, if you've read the original one-shot, you'll understand what I mean because I changed it up a bit. I can't say that it won't come up in later chapters, but for now it's not going to be a part of the plot, but I will make it obvious that the characters are not happy with what is going on, so if it does come up it won't be so random. Also, this chapter shows the same events in two different points of views, but most chapters won't be like that. The last thing I have to say is that I have not read the original Les Miserables yet, so unfortunately, my characters will be mainly based off of what I've seen/heard about them. I want to get my hands on a copy of Les Miserables as soon as possible, but until then, I'm not going to be describing the characterization of many of the Les Amis too much. **_

_**Disclaimer: I'm not Victor Hugo; therefore I don't own Les Miserables. **_

_/ / / / / / / / / / / /_

_First, _

_This is your first step_

_Light is caught in your eyes_

_Heart beats_

_To the rhythm of the city streets_

_Can you feel it? Can you feel it?_

_We Are – Joy Williams._

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

Chapter 1 – Light Is Caught In Your Eyes.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

Part one – Eponine Thenardier's point of view.

Eponine Thenardier was never one to show her emotions or make it obvious that she was hurt in any way. Even after the years of neglect and abuse from her parents, she was a strong girl and didn't just cry at the drop of a hat. But this, this was too much for her to deal with. Marius Pontmercy, the boy she had been in love with for a good three years now had fallen in love with another girl without even knowing her name.

The two of them had been walking to the Café Musain together like they usually did after their classes at New York University. They both went to the university, like many of their friends from high school did, however, unlike Marius and his friends, whose families paid for him to get into the school, Eponine was on scholarship and was constantly making sure her grades were close to perfect.

Eponine usually enjoyed going to the Musain with Marius and all the other boys. It was a tradition that had started in the summer when all of them moved into the city, either on campus or in an apartment of their own.

She was also good friends with quite a few of the boys, knowing them through Marius and high school. One she didn't know, but wouldn't really mind knowing was Aaron Enjolras, one of Marius' closest friends. Despite knowing of him in high school, she had never once spoken to him. She couldn't say that she never paid any attention to him though. She heard him talking about how ridiculous he thinks it is that the University was taking away people's scholarships from time to time, and that was her biggest fear. It was comforting that someone who didn't even have to worry about their scholarship getting taken away cared about the issue.

The little group was a big reason why she always went to the Café, but she'd be lying if she said it was the main reason. The main reason was simply because she loved Marius and wanted to spend as much time as possible with him. She hoped that maybe one day, he'd fall in love with her to.

But unfortunately for Eponine, now that was never going to happen. As they were walking and enjoying the late September weather, Marius stopped in his tracks and looked like he had seen a ghost or something. Eponine raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what in the hell he was looking at until she followed his gaze and there she was. Cosette Fauchelevent, a good friend of Eponine's and her old foster sister was standing with her step-father and her expression matched Marius'.

Eponine and Cosette shared an apartment, since they were both students at NYU and knew each other from their teen years. Although she and Cosette didn't go to the same high school, they had met each other one time when they quite literally ran into each other at the local shopping mall. Cosette was shopping, but Eponine was simply in a rush to get to her part-time job so she wouldn't be late. They just kind of became friends after that. It was hard for Eponine to decline a friendship from someone as nice as Cosette.

They apartment they shared was a tiny apartment, and therefore not overly expensive, but Cosette's father had helped pay for quite a bit of it. Eponine would hate to admit that, though.

Now, Eponine wasn't a genius when it came to love or romance or anything like that, but she knew exactly what her two friends were thinking as soon as she saw their love-struck faces.

Her heart broke as Cosette walked away with her father and Marius turned to her, grabbing her by her shoulders. "Eponine, do you know that girl?" Marius asked her.

Eponine wondered how Marius had never noticed that she hung out with this girl quite often back home and even had been sharing an apartment with her for the past month or so, but she pushed that thought out of her head and focused on the conversation.

She simply bit down on her bottom lip and nodded her head. Marius' face lit up, oblivious to her hurt. "Who is she?" He exclaimed.

Eponine looked down at her dirty combat boots before looking back up to look at Marius. "Cosette," She said simply.

"Cosette," he said, testing the name out to see how it sounded. "What a beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Eponine, you saw her! She's completely perfect," he looked overjoyed. "I see her quite often, Marius. She's actually my roommate..." Eponine murmured. _Good going, 'Ponine. _She thought to herself. In all honestly, she wouldn't be too shocked if Marius showed up at her apartment with flowers for Cosette later on.

Eponine literally cringed when he shook her by her shoulders. "Really? That's amazing! I have to see her again, 'Ponine! Do you think you could arrange that?"

Eponine nodded, regretting the action as soon as Marius enveloped her into a big hug. She hugged him back, but it didn't make her feel any better. "I'm going to go to the Café, when you talk to Cosette, you'll know where to find me!" He waved and headed off in the direction of the Musain, leaving a heartbroken Eponine behind.

As much as it hurt Eponine, she wanted Marius to be happy. She ran in the direction Cosette had gone, soon catching up to her. "Cosette!" she said, once she got close enough. Cosette and her father turned around and Cosette excused herself from her father and walked towards Eponine. "Hi, 'Ponine," she said, sounding even more happy than usual.

'Of course,' Eponine thought. 'She's just fell in love at first sight. Why wouldn't she be happy?'

She sighed and smiled softly at her friend, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "Cosette, you know that boy I was just with?"

Cosette nodded very quickly and grabbed Eponine by the wrists. "Yes! Are you friends with him? Please say yes!" She looked at Eponine, anxiously awaiting a response. How was it that Cosette never saw her with Marius, either? Were her friends oblivious?

"Y-yes, we're good friends. His name is Marius and he wants to meet you," Eponine said.

The blonde woman squealed and flung her arms around Eponine. "Oh my goodness! Eponine, that's amazing!" She pulled away and smiled brightly. "You're the best friend ever!" Eponine gave a fake smile as she replied. "I try."

Mr. Fauchelevent looked over at the two girls. "Cosette, we had dinner reser-," he started.

"Coming papa!" Cosette said before turning back to Eponine. "I have to get going now, I was just on my way to have dinner with my father, but please tell Marius I want to meet him too! Maybe you could introduce us soon? Thank you so much!" She hugged her again without waiting for a response before scurrying off to meet up with her father.

Eponine mumbled a small "goodbye," before turning on her heels to walk to the Café Musain.

She didn't know how Cosette could call her a good friend. Her parents had abused Cosette terribly and Eponine used to treat Cosette like dirt when they were children, before Mr. Fauchelevent adopted Cosette.

Back then, Eponine knew Cosette was jealous of her, and she had every reason to be. But these days, Eponine was always jealous of Cosette and it had been that way since she met her. She was rich, beautiful and everything Eponine used to be before her parents lost the hotel they owned. Now, Marius falling in love with Cosette made her even more jealous.

Eponine looked down at her clothing. A pale, ripped pair of jeans tucked into combat boots and a thin black hoodie. It was no wonder Marius thought Cosette looked like an angel, with her blonde hair perfectly curled and her expensive white dress and matching shoes looking perfect on her. She crossed her arms as the wind blew around her. Even though it was only the end of September, it was rather cold.

She stepped into the practically empty Musain and looked around for Marius so she could tell him the news, but before she could spot Marius in the mess of young men, she spotted Aaron Enjolras and her brown eyes met his blue ones. She still wasn't quite sure why she had never formally met or spoken to this boy. She just heard of him multiple times from Marius.

She inhaled and her heart started to beat faster as he gave her a weak smile.

Marius must have burst in the café and told all of his friends about Cosette. It was a pity smile, but it still made Eponine's stomach twist around in knots that she only got when Marius would smile at her. She didn't like feeling that way. Not when he was the cause of it.

When Marius caught sight of her, he ran over and started throwing questions at her, all of them involving Cosette. Eponine forced herself to smile and look happy for him; she tucked a piece of wavy hair behind her ear and sighed.

"Marius, Cosette wants to meet you too. She had to go to some restaurant with her dad, though. She wants me to introduce you guys," Eponine told him, still looking at Aaron out of the corner of her eye. "Oh that's fantastic, Eponine! Thank you!" He hugged her once more before leaving the Café to go God knows where.

Although Eponine was devastated, it didn't stop her from looking back towards where Aaron was standing before, having a strange urge to talk to him. A strange urge to finally meet him.

Aaron stood by a table talking to Gabriel Joly, who usually just went by his last name like many of the boys and was dating another one of Eponine's good friends, Musichetta.

Eponine looked Aaron over. He was wearing a maroon hoodie with a simple white t-shirt underneath and a pair of brown skinny jeans. She also noticed that it was no wonder girls were always giggling at the sight of him. Between his blond curly hair and perfect face, he was simply gorgeous. She saw Joly look at her, turn to Aaron and nod, followed by Aaron looking over in Eponine's direction, their eyes met again and she blushed, looking down at her feet. How strange. He excused himself from Joly and walked over to where Eponine was standing.

The boy raised an eyebrow at her and cleared his throat. "You're a friend of Marius', right? You went to high school with us too?" She nodded in response. "I'm Aaron Enjolras. I don't think we've ever really met," he told her. "And you are?"

"Eponine. Eponine Thenardier," she said, extending a hand.

He took her hand a shook it before replying. "It's nice to meet you, Eponine."

Eponine smiled at him. It was a real smile, not just something to cover up the fact that she's lying or upset, and plays with a loose thread on the bottom of her sweater. "It's nice to meet you too," she says to him, and for the first time that evening, she thinks that maybe Marius not picking her was for the better.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

Part two – Aaron Enjolras' point of view.

Aaron Enjolras took a long sip of his coffee and placed his textbooks into his leather backpack before standing up, irritated by how distracted his friends were.

"Boys," he sighed. "How do you guys ever expect to graduate from university if all you're ever going to do is sit around here and talk about random girls?!" Sure, he loved hanging out at the Musain, but his education came first, and at times it seemed like he cared about his friend's education more than they did.

The other boys mumbled some responses and he groaned in frustration. "Does anyone know where Marius is?" It was a random question, but he figured that if he was going to have a conversation that didn't revolve around women and parties, it would be with Marius. The group shook their heads and Aaron ran a hand through his blond curls. "Fantastic," he muttered sarcastically.

He had just decided on reading his book to pass the time when Marius barged in. He stood up to go ask his friend what held him up, but then took in the state Marius was in. His friend looked stunned.

"Marius, what's wrong with you? You look like you just saw a ghost!" Joly stated, his voice filled with concern. "Are you ill?" Alexander Grantaire handed him a cardboard coffee cup and quirked an eyebrow. "Here, have some coffee. What's going on?"

"She was just like a ghost. She was there, but then she disappeared!" Marius had a strange faraway look in his eyes, and Grantaire took advantage of that. "Is our Marius finally in love?" he teased, making irritating kissing noises and sipping on his coffee.

Aaron had had enough and rolled his eyes. "Guys, I'm sure that we have more important things to be discussing rather than Marius' love life," Aaron said, his voice dripping with annoyance. "Aaron, she was like a burst of light, my world has been changed!"

With a small scoff, Aaron continued. "You're not a child anymore, Marius. This is silly! She's just a girl," he insisted, confused as to why his friend was all of a sudden so in love. "If you were there, you would understand!" he told him, before walking away to where Grantaire was standing and looked to be pouring his heart out to the laughing boy.

As the tiny bell of the door to the Café Musain rang, his head snapped over to see Eponine Thenardier. She had been following Marius around since they were all sophomores in high school and was always found sitting in the corner of where the usually hung out in the Musain, doing her homework or reading, occasionally talking to someone from their group. She was clearly in love with Marius, and if she wasn't hanging around with them at the cafe, Aaron had seen her usually with some blonde girl and Joly's girlfriend, Musichetta.

Their eyes met and that's when it hit him. He knew that she was in love with Marius, and now she looked devastated and he was just going on about meeting some girl. Of course, she was heartbroken. Another thing he noticed was how pretty Eponine really was. She wasn't pretty like the girls that Grantaire and Courfeyrac were going on about, but she was beautiful in her own way. Wait, what was he thinking? He was Aaron Enjolras. He focused on his studies. Not silly things like relationships.

Ignoring his thoughts about Eponine's appearance, he thought about everything he had heard about her. He had heard much about how tough and strong and witty she was from Marius, but from the way she looked now, he would have never thought that she was tough or strong by any means. He offered her a weak smile and she looked nervous.

Marius pushed past him and ran over to Eponine. He kept his eyes on her and noticed the way her face fell as Marius started asking a bunch of questions about a girl named Cosette before running off.

How could Marius be so blind? Everyone knew Eponine was in love with him. Everyone except Marius, that is. His thoughts were interrupted when Joly walked up to him and started asking him if he thought that Marius had come down with something.

Aaron laughed softly and shook his head. What a typical Hypochondriac he was. Always worried about disease and what not. He assured him that Marius was simply in love and there was nothing to worry about unless it started to affect their grades.

He was about to say something else but Aaron cut him off. "Joly, is that Musichetta's friend over there? The one Marius was just with? Eponine? She went to high school with us, right? And now she goes to NYU too?" he flooded him with questions. Joly looked over at the girl and nodded. "All of that is true."  
Aaron replied with a simple 'Oh,' before quietly before excusing himself.

He walked over to Eponine, raised his eyebrow and cleared his throat, carefully selecting his words and not wanting it to seem like her already knew so much about this girl he had never spoken too.

"You're a friend of Marius', right? And you went to high school with all of us?" He asked, despite already knowing that answer to both of those questions was yes. She nodded, looking sad at the mention of Marius' name. "I'm Aaron Enjolras," he told her. "And you are?" He asked her, even though once again, he already knew the answer to the question.

"Eponine. Eponine Thenardier," she said, with an extension of her hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Eponine," he shook her hand as he replied to her.

As Eponine smiled at him, her eyes lit up and she played with a loose thread on the bottom of her sweater, an act that seemed to be out of pure nervousness.

He can't help but notice that she has dimples and she doesn't like how her smile makes him feel. It's something foreign, something that he's never felt and he knows that these feelings are unwanted.

"It's nice to meet you too," she says to him, and all he could think about was why in the world Marius never saw Eponine there.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

_**Whoop! I hope you guys aren't too mad with the changes that I made. So, before I post the next chapter of this, I have a question. Do you guys have any idea of what each character could be majoring in? Please help because for most of them, I am stumped. Anyways, Reviewing and Favouring makes my day, and even if you just have a few questions, leave them in the reviews and I'd be more than willing to answer them. Thanks for reading! **_


	2. Chapter 2

_**a/n: Hello everyone! Thanks for the favourites and follows, it meant so much. Also thanks to those who gave me some ideas for what each character will major in. I don't think you guys know how much that helped me. I haven't fully decided what their majors will be yet, but I'm hoping for them to be mentioned in later chapter once I make up my mind. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy chapter two. Read and review, please! **_

_**BTW, I know that the first chapter had a name that was a lyric from the Joy Williams song, We Are [the lyric was 'light is caught in your eyes'], but the only reason for that is because that was the title of the original one-shot. Since the other song lyrics are kind of irrelevant in some ways to what the story is, they're just going to be called whatever I see fit. **_

_**Disclaimer: I'm not Victor Hugo; therefore I don't own Les Miserables.**_

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Chapter 2 – Not exactly friends.

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After Eponine and Aaron's hands returned to the side of their bodies, Eponine's smile faded slightly as she saw how his smile turned into a small frown. She couldn't understand why he was now giving her _that look. _She wasn't quite sure what he was thinking, but she knew that she didn't like that look. Eponine had seen it too often before. It looked like he felt bad for her, and she didn't like it one bit.

She raised a single eyebrow and sent one of her trademark death glares at him. Many of the other boys had been victims of that glare on multiple occasions. "What?" she said, feeling the slightest twinge of guilt for sounding so snappy towards him.

Aaron laughed ever so softly, a smile reappearing on his face. He clearly wasn't intimidated by her. But in all honesty, Eponine was shocked to hear him laugh. She had heard what all of their friends had said about him, particularly Grantaire.

"He's made of marble!"  
"Aaron doesn't have emotions."  
"He's like a statue... A marble man!"

Eponine is pretty sure that this is the first time that she's seen him come remotely close to laughing. Maybe she's witnessed a smirk or a small chuckle from time to time, but in short, she understood why his friends referred to him as 'a marble man'.

Her thoughts were broken when Aaron finally spoke up. "Eponine," he looked her straight in the eye. "I know that we just met, but we've technically known each other since high school. Is something wrong?"

Eponine froze when he looked her straight in the eye and mentally cursed at herself for thinking that he had pretty eyes. She crossed her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes at him. "You don't even know me," she said softly. "Besides, you're made of marble, are you not?" she teased him, her voice lightening up a little bit. "At least that's what Grantaire tells me."

He edged a little bit closer to her, causing her to practically stumble backwards and he tried his hardest to supress a smile upon noticing that. "You really shouldn't listen to Grantaire, Eponine. You've known him for a while now. You should know that he's crazy," he sighed before continuing. "Now, don't change the subject. I was asking why you were upset." Eponine looked up at him, trying to read him. Why was it that this boy whom she had just introduced herself to so interested in why she was upset?

"I hardly think that it matters, Aaron."

Aaron shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants and leaned against the nearby wall. "Are you sure about that? Just a couple minutes ago you look like you were about to burst into tears," he noted.

Eponine's eyes widened at what he said and she clearly wasn't happy with it. "Excuse me?"

That was awful. Was it obvious that she was heartbroken? Was it obvious that she was in love with Marius? Eponine sucked in a breath before exhaling. She was about to reply before Aaron cut her off.

"You heard me. You looked really," he paused, carefully selecting his next set of words. "Really distraught."

Eponine leaned towards Aaron and glared at him. "You don't even know me, Aaron," she replied before turning on her heels and storming out of the Café Musain.

Aaron ran a hand through his blond curls. "Eponine," he tried to grab her attention, but she was already too busy leaving the café. The young man turned around to go back to where all his friends were sitting which was only a few feet away, but was surprised to see that most of them were listening to their conversation, and were now giving his weird looks.

"Can I help you guys with anything?"

"No, but we can help you," Louis Courfeyrac stated. Aaron raised his eyebrows in confusion, resulting in Grantaire continuing. "The first rule of being friends with Eponine Thenardier, _never _ask her questions about her feelings. "

"That's ridiculous. I'm sure she was just in a bad mood today," he suggested.

Grantaire shook his head. "No, you don't get it. You never ask her questions because most of the time, she'll never admit how she's feeling and she'll end up getting angry with you for jumping to conclusions," Grantaire smirked as he continued. "She's a lot like you in that sense, you know."

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

The next morning, Eponine Thenardier found herself back in the Café Musain. She wasn't a very frequent customer in the mornings, but since it was a Saturday and she really had nowhere else to be for a little while, she thought it would be a nice place to do some reading.

The eighteen year old sat herself down at a table in the corner and opened her book, but she couldn't bring herself to focus on what was on the page. She had barely gotten any sleep last night, and was struggling to stay awake.

As soon as Cosette got home from dinner with her father, she bombarded Eponine with questions and every answer that Eponine provided her with was like a dagger to the heart. Eponine wondered why she bothered to even help her friends in the first place.

Once Cosette went to bed, Eponine did the same, but it took hours for her to actually fall asleep. Her thoughts consisted of Marius and Cosette and shockingly enough, even Aaron Enjolras was a frequent visitor to her thoughts.

It was clear why she couldn't stop thinking about Marius and Cosette. After all, it was her best friend and the boy she was in love with. The two of them had already fallen in love before they had even met. '_He was never mine to lose', _she constantly reminds herself, because it's the truth. He was never in love with her; therefore he was free to fall in love with whoever he chose, no matter how much it hurt her to watch it happen.

However, Eponine didn't know why Aaron's face kept popping up in her thoughts as she tried to fall asleep. Then again, maybe she did. He had seen right through her. She was fantastic at masking her feelings and managed to hide the signs of her parent's constant abuse until she was seventeen. But Aaron was able to tell that she was devastated, and she didn't like how someone who she barely knew also managed to know her so well at the same time.

"Hey, Eponine," a familiar voice said and Eponine's head popped up to see her good friend, Musichetta.

Musichetta was a lovely looking girl with short raven coloured hair that was always perfectly curly and light brown eyes. She was a waitress at the Café Musain, considering her parents owned the place. Musichetta had also been dating Gabriel Joly since their senior year of high school, but unlike Eponine, Joly and all of their other friends, Musichetta was a dance major at Julliard rather than a student at NYU.

"Oh, hey 'Chetta," Eponine greeted her friend with a small smile.

"What can I get for you, 'Ponine?" She took out her mini leather notepad from her apron and Eponine quickly ordered a hot chocolate. Just as Musichetta left Eponine's table, the last person she wanted to see strolled into the Musain. "Of course," Eponine mumbled under her breath.

Aaron Enjolras had gone to the Musain, hoping to get some coffee and then finish writing an essay for his political science class. As he stepped into the Café, his eyes flickered over to a row of tables and saw Eponine in one of them, not looking very pleased with his presence. He quickly shook his head and walked away. Grantaire was right. He really shouldn't have asked about her feelings. Aaron went to the counter and ordered a black coffee before he turned and walked over to where Eponine was sitting.

She was sipping on a hot chocolate and reading her book, pretending that she didn't realize he was standing there. He knew she was pretending not to acknowledge him, because just a few minutes before she was scowling at him.

"Hello, Eponine." he smiled ever so slightly and looked down at her from where he was standing. She looked up for a few seconds and blinked at him. "Aaron." Well, at least she acknowledged him. He wasn't quite sure why, but he really did want to get to know Eponine. Maybe it was the fact that she was one of the only girls that his each of his friends thought of as a dear friend, and not just some girl they could try to flirt with or set up on a date with one of the other boys. Or maybe it was because that she has really pretty eyes and couldn't stop thinking about her the previous night. '_No, stop. You're going to turn into Marius,' _he reminded himself.

He gestured to the chair across from her and raised an eyebrow. "Mind if I take a seat?" Eponine sighed and nodded her head without removing her eyes from her book. "If you wish."

Aaron was shocked by her behavior. Yesterday, before he had asked how she was feeling and whatnot, she seemed happy to meet him, but now she seemed like she wanted nothing to do with him. He took a long sip of his coffee and set the cardboard cup down before speaking up. "Eponine, I just—"

As it turns out, Eponine thought it was the right time to say something too. "Can I ask—" she started, before laughing softly as they interrupted each other. "Sorry," he said softly. "You go first."

Eponine put her book down in front of her and wrapped her arms around her cup. "Can I ask why you sat here?" She quickly continued when she saw his reaction. He looked rather insulted. "I don't mean to be rude. I'm just wondering."

"I actually wanted to speak to you." She raised both of her eyebrows in confusion, a gesture that told him to continue. "Look, I'm sorry for trying to find out what was wrong with you yesterday. We're not exactly friends. I was just… concerned."

"It's alright, I just wasn't in the mood to talk about it," Eponine stated as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Do you want to talk about it now?" Aaron asked, hoping they wouldn't have a repeat of yesterday when he asked her.

"You said it yourself, we're not exactly friends. I don't understand why you care," she said, smirking very softly as she awaited his answer.

"That doesn't mean I'm not trying to be friends with you, so do you want to tell me what's wrong?" He leaned forward on the wooden table, looking right at her.

Eponine bit her lip and looked away from him. She didn't like how he was so keen on holding eye contact with her. To be blunt, she didn't like how he made her feel when they were that close to each other and how he looked at her with so much concern in his eyes. Firstly, it made her feel babied, and secondly, it gave her the smallest of butterflies in her stomach. "Fine," she said before exhaling. "It was Marius," she responded, her voice barely above a whisper.

Aaron nodded. "I thought so."

Eponine's head snapped back to face him and she glared at him. "What do you mean by that?"

"It was kind of obvious. He came in, telling us about how he was so in love with this girl, and then minutes later, you appeared, and you didn't look very happy. Plus, you've been attached to the hip since you guys were 15. It's not much of a shock." Upon hearing all of this, Eponine's face fell.

"Did he know?" She asked faintly.

Aaron shook his head. "No. That boy's pretty oblivious, don't even worry about him," he assured her. "Well, I suppose that's kind of good to hear," she shrugged. "Can I ask you something else?"

A small smile tugged at his lips as he nodded. "Go for it." Eponine looked out the Café's window thoughtfully before facing him again. "I know I mentioned this yesterday, but why do you care so much about how I'm feeling if a, we just met, and b, you're supposedly made of marble."

Aaron leaned back on his chair. "I'd like to think that even though we just met, we still both know each other enough to be concerned about one another. There's nothing wrong with that. Oh, and I'm definitely not made of marble… Not most of the time, anyways," he told her. "What is this? 20 questions?" he asked, narrowing his eyes as he did so.

"No, but that sounds like a good idea!" Eponine exclaimed. "You go first. Ask me something." Aaron thought about it for a bit before deciding on a good enough question. "What's that book you were reading before I came?"

Eponine held up the cover to reveal _To Kill a Mockingbird. _"Good choice," he said and she nodded. "Yeah, it's really good. Now, I have my question for you. How did you get that silly marble man nickname in the first place?"

Aaron laughed softly at the memory. "It was when we were in grade nine. I was freaking out over my first exam, and Grantaire thought it'd be funny to say, 'loosen up, marble man', unfortunately for me, the name just kind of stuck."

Eponine suppressed a giggle. "That does seem like something that would happen to you."

He shrugged. "I guess it could be worse. Okay, so who's that girl Marius was going on about?" Eponine frowned. "Gee, you sure know how to ask questions that will make a girl feel better," she said dryly. Aaron started an apology but she cut him off. "I'm kidding," Eponine smirked. "It's alright. And it's Cosette, my roommate."

"Oh... I'm sorry, that's the blonde girl, right?" When Eponine nodded, he continued. "How did he never see her before yesterday?"

Eponine simply shrugged. "I guess since it was either me and Cosette or me and Marius, never me and Marius and Cosette. They probably never even noticed each other before yesterday." He nods in understanding but immediately decides to change the subject by encouraging Eponine to ask another question.

They continue on like this for a while, throwing questions back and forth at each other, most of them revolve around school, random interests and their friends. Not Marius though, he can tell it hurts her to talk about him. Aaron is shocked at how easily Eponine can make him laugh, even if it's just a small chuckle. Most people aren't able have that effect on him.

Eponine's eyes flickered up as she checked the clock on the wall and she cursed under her breath. "I'm going to be late for work. I just work at the bookstore down the street, but I really can't be late again, I'm sorry I have to get going. It was nice talking to you, Aaron," she smiled at the boy as she got out of her chair.

She walked to the door but before she could leave he got up and caught her wrist. "Eponine, wait," he said.

Eponine turned and looked up at him, her brown eyes widening slightly. "Yes?"

"I still get to ask you one more question," he reminded her.

Eponine laughed softly and ran a hand through her hair. "Ask away."

"Does this mean we're friends now?"

"Not exactly," she replied with a small wink before sauntering out of the Café Musain.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

_**A/N: Well, yay! This was kind of short but I really wanted to end this chapter like that. I hope I didn't totally butcher those characters. I know that it may seem OOC, but that's how I see and write modern day Enjonine. A quick note about Musichetta, I know that her being a dancer is kind of irrelevant and made up, but I figured it would be more realistic than making her yet another student at NYU like every other character in this story. Reading and reviewing would make my day, thanks guys. Mwah! **_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Hey guys, not much to say about this other than I hope you enjoy. PLEASE review, it means so much. Let's get on with it!**_

_**Disclaimer: I still don't own Les Miserables!**_

_/ / / / / / / / / / / /_

Chapter 3 – Sleepover.

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As it turns out, Aaron's friends enjoyed eavesdropping on his conversations more than he knew. Just as Eponine left, his group of friends, excluding Marius all walked towards him rather quickly. He noted that they all came from a table that wasn't their usual, and rather off to the side and out of the way in a place where he wouldn't have been able to see them from where he was sitting with Eponine. He didn't even know that they were in the Café. Perhaps they were all there before he arrived.

Grantaire slapped him of the back lightly and swung and arm around him. "So, what were you doing with our good friend Eponine?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows slightly.

"Was this a date?" John Prouvaire piped up.

"Do you like her now?" Courfeyrac asked, followed by, "That's fine; just don't be turning into Marius."

Aaron held up his hands, signalling for them to be quiet. "Guys, we just ran into each other and I wanted to apologize. Then we started talking. Nothing more than that," he told them, but it still wasn't enough. "Well, what else were you guys talking about?" His roommate, Antoine Combeferre asked.

"Yeah, you guys were sitting there for a while," Courfeyrac pointed out. "If you all must know, she wanted to play 20 questions, so that's exactly what we did. I don't see the big deal." With that, all the boys seemed pleased with his answer. Well, all of the boys except Grantaire.

He shot Aaron a glare and looked at him with disgust. "20 questions?" he asked. "How old are you guys? 12? You should have flirted with her. Or at least help her get over Marius!" Aaron was about to ask how he knew about Marius until he remembered how painfully obvious it had been the past couple of years. "Grantaire, I don't get why you are all so interested in my relationship with Eponine. We're barely even friends."

"But you could be," Joly said before walking away to greet his girlfriend. "He's right, she works at that book store just over there. Go talk to her," Combeferre urged him as he pointed out the window.

"Maybe you could bring her flowers!" John suggested. Aaron shook his head and sighed. "You guys don't get it, do you?" he looked around at all of them for a reaction, but most of their faces remained the same. "Eponine and I are _just_ friends. Nothing more, alright?"

His friends still didn't looked convinced, yet they still nodded their heads and murmured a round of 'Okays,' and just like that, the conversation about Eponine was dropped, but Aaron still couldn't stop thinking about Eponine and everything his friends said.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

The end of Eponine's shift came far too soon. On her way to work earlier that day, she received a test message from Cosette asking if she could meet Marius later that night, and of course, Eponine agreed and told her to be at the Café Musain for 4:30. She texted Marius and told him the same, despite knowing the pain it would cause her. She knew that her other friends would also be at the Musain like they were on most Saturday evenings, so at least she'd have them to keep her company.

Eponine stood outside the café and she quickly looked at the time on her phone. It was 4:25, meaning she still had five more minutes until she was due to introduce Marius and Cosette. That also meant that she had five more minutes until her heart was ripped out and stomped on. Just seeing Marius and Cosette talking to each other was sure to kill her.

She took a deep breath and swung open the door, the little bell on the door ringing as she did so. Her group of friends turned and wave and she replied with a weak smile before looking for Cosette. Surely enough, there she was, looking perfect as always even though judging by how she was awkwardly tugging on the bottom of her lace shirt, she was a nervous wreck. Her head popped up and a smile showed up on her face when she caught sight of Eponine. "'Ponine!" she exclaimed and ran up to greet her. She enveloped her in a hug and pulled away.

"He's not here yet, is he?" she asked, craning her neck. "I didn't see him."

"N-No, not yet, actually," Eponine looked behind her to see Marius approaching the Café through the glass windows. She bit her lip and turned back to Cosette. "There is he now, though," she said, trying to hide her disappointment. Cosette squealed softly and jumped up and down. "Oh my God, how do I look?"

"You look fine, Cosette," Eponine assured her, even though that was an understatement. She looked unfairly beautiful as always. Marius strolled into the café and stopped in his tracks when he saw Cosette standing with Eponine. Eponine looked back at him then back to Cosette, sighing. Their expressions were practically identical.

She raked a hand through her hair and motioned for Cosette to follow her. She gave Marius a small smile when she reached him. "Marius, this is Cosette," she gestured towards Cosette. "Cosette, this is Marius," she continued, gesturing towards Marius. The two of them shook hands and she saw how in love they clearly were, so she excused herself, but her exit clearly wasn't acknowledged.

She pulled the arms of her sweater over her hands and walked over to where the others were gathered. Evidently, the only open seat was one squished in between Musichetta and Aaron. She took a seat and pretended not to notice how the conversation stopped and all eyes were on her. They all knew, and now they all felt bad for her. _'Well, isn't this just the icing on the cake,_' she thought to herself bitterly. After 30 long seconds of silence, Eponine looked up. "Stop feeling bad for me. All of you. I'm fine, don't worry," she lied. They all still looked at her with pity, but at least they all went back to having normal conversations. One pair of eyes, however, didn't look away.

Aaron nudged Eponine lightly, causing her to turn and face him. "You're a bad liar, you know." She crossed her arms and huffed quietly. "Clearly not. They all believed it," she nodded her head towards the others sitting around the table.

"You really think they believed that you were okay?" he asked.

"No," she admitted. "But at least it I got them to stop looking at me like I was growing an extra arm."

"True enough, but you can't expect them to ignore you forever. They're your friends; they just want to make sure you're okay." Eponine scoffed. "I'm aware of that; I just really don't want to deal with anyone treating me like a child right now. Can we not talk about this?"

Aaron nodded and turned away from Eponine to join in on the group conversation. "Fine with me."

Eponine noticed how her friends were continuously doing exactly what she didn't want; treating her like a child. It was hard not to slap each and every one of them. Every time Marius or Cosette would laugh, one of them would fake cough loudly to cover up the sound or Grantaire would throw a muffin at her to distract her. Combeferre even offered to switch seats with Eponine on numerous occasions, seeing as his back was facing the couple and Eponine only had to lean over a little bit to catch a glimpse of them.

As Marius and Cosette got up to leave, the two were holding hands and smiling at each other ridiculously. It made Eponine sick.

Marius held open the door for Cosette and whispered something in her ear, but before Eponine could see Cosette's reaction, Musichetta shoved her off of her chair, hoping to block her view. "Ouch," she mumbled as she hit the floor before scowling up at Musichetta. Aaron offered her a hand and she took it before placing herself back on the chair and dusting off her pants. "You guys are all insane!" she whisper-yelled. "I mean, you're throwing muffins at me and pushing me off chairs to distract me. I'm not that weak!" she snapped.

Musichetta put her hand on Eponine's arm and looked at her with concern. "I'm sorry, 'Ponine, it's just, I think we can all agree that we don't want to see you get hurt like this," she looked at the others for confirmation and smiled softly when they all nodded. "See?"

"That doesn't mean you push me off of chairs," she said quietly through her teeth. "Sorry," Musichetta smiled sheepishly. "It's okay, but you're all insane. I-I should be getting home, I'm not feeling too well, tonight," she lied even though she knew very well that her friends knew the exact reason why she was leaving.

As Eponine gathered up her stuff and threw her cup in the trash can, she noticed all of the others also getting ready to leave. She looked at the clock and saw that it was almost eight. How had they all been talking for that long? She shrugged her jacket on and walked outside into the cold fall air.

One thing she was able to notice before she was shoved off her chair was Cosette and Marius heading in the direction of their apartment, which was also the opposite direction of where Marius lived. Eponine shoved her hands in her pockets and walked away from her apartment, not quite sure where she was going, but knowing that she sure wasn't going to be going home, not for a while anyways. The last thing she wanted was to open up the door of her apartment to find Marius and Cosette cuddling on their couch, or worse.

Eponine shook that thought out of her head and continued to walk even as it started to rain. "Great," she mumbled under her breath. It was when it started to rain hard that Eponine started to cry. Here she was, on her own, walking in the rain because she didn't know where else to go. She thought of Marius which made her tears fall even faster. She bawled her hands into fists and wiped at her tears but they just kept flowing.

Meanwhile, Aaron left the café and pulled his hood up, groaning at the heavy flow of rain that was coming down. He had walked to the Café earlier that evening. At that time, the sun was shining, plus, his apartment was only a few minutes away.

All of Aaron's other friends were all headed to Grantaire's apartment, including his roommate, Combeferre. Aaron had passed on the offer, figuring that he could probably make better use of his time and finish up one of his essays.

The young man walked until he noticed a figure walking in front of him. He squinted a little and despite the downpour and the lack of sunlight, he knew it was Eponine. He jogged to catch up with her and greeted her with a tiny smile. "Hey, Eponine."

She didn't even look at him but she sniffed and sped up her walking. "Go away."

He stepped in front of her and grabbed her by the wrists. "Hey, hey," he said in a comforting tone. "What's the matter? Don't you live back there?" he motioned behind her but kept his eyes locked on hers.

Eponine started to cry harder. "I can't... I can't go home now. Marius is probably there with Cosette and I, I just can't," she sobbed and Aaron didn't know what else to do. He was never too good with girls, especially not when they were sobbing over a boy. He sighed and enveloped her into a hug where she continued to sob for a few minutes. When they pulled away he looked down at her. "We're both soaking wet, how about we go to my apartment and get out of this rain? Combeferre is at Grantaire's, so you can even stay the night if you want."

Eponine nodded, not sure why she was allowing herself to trust him so much. But he was offering her help and she felt a sense of safety around him, so even though she hated being seen as vulnerable like this, she was okay with it all for now. "Thank you."

He waved a hand and smiled down at her as they continued walking along. "It's no big deal. It's not exactly the best idea to be walking around New York at 8:00 at night, now is it?" Eponine laughed softly and shook her head. "I guess not."

The rest of the walk to his apartment is silent (except for the occasional sniffle from Eponine), but the silence was surprising comfortable. Once they reached his building, he waits as she wrings out her hair outside of the front doors before entering with her. The stand in silence on the elevator ride too, and it's not until he unlocks the door to his apartment and sits down at his kitchen table across from her that the silence is broken. "Do you need anything?" He asks.

She takes a shaky breath and shakes her head. "No, I'm alright," she wrapped her arms around her tiny frame and shivered slightly. "Just cold."

He looked at Eponine then looked down at himself. They were still both soaking wet. "Wait here," he said and got up from where they were sitting only to come back a few minutes, changed into dry clothing; a white t-shirt and a dark grey pair of sweatpants. He also had a pullover hoodie in his hands.

"Here," he said, handing the sweater to her. "I figure it'll be big, but it's better than nothing," he shrugged. "You can change in the bathroom," he motioned to a white door down the hall.

Eponine nodded and took the hoodie from him. "Thanks." She soon returned wearing his hoodie over her black pair of leggings. Although they were still wet and sticking to her legs, she really didn't feel like walking around his apartment half naked.

Eponine ran a hand through her wet, matted hair and cleared her throat. Aaron looked up. "Is that better?" She nodded and took a seat across from him, crossing her legs on the chair. He took note of her puffy cheeks and red eyes, feeling incredibly sorry for her. "Are you sure I can't get you anything? Coffee? Tea? "

Eponine played with the strings of the hoodie and sighed. "A tea would be great, actually."

"Alright," he got up from his spot and walked into the tiny kitchen, setting up the kettle then leaning against the counter to face Eponine. "He's not worth it."

Eponine's face crinkled in confusion. "I'm sorry? What?"

Aaron continued. "Marius. He's not worth it. He's a great guy and everything; one of my best friends even, but he's not worth it."

Eponine scoffed. "I just wish that I could believe that." He doesn't know what to respond to that, so the two are once again silent until Aaron pours tea into mugs for both of them and sets one of them down in front of her before taking a seat. "I'm being serious, Eponine. Boys like Marius will come and go, you just need to wait for the right person to come along," he assured her with a small smile.

"Since when do you know so much about relationships and love?" She questioned. "I don't remember you being in any relationships in high school."

"That's a lie, I had one," he reminded her. "In grade eleven. It didn't last long, though. " Eponine nods her head, vaguely remembering him holding hands with some girl but later hearing from Marius that she just liked how he looked and really didn't care much about him otherwise.

"I don't remember you dating anyone either," Aaron tapped on the side of his mug. "Did you?"

Eponine took a small sip from the mug. "Yes. I'm guessing you know of Thomas Montparnasse? We dated for a bit in the tenth grade, but then when I met Marius and the two of us started hanging out… He got abusive," she said, the last word barely audible.

"I'm so sorry."

"It's fine, it's all in the past. I was used to it, anyways. I'm sure you're aware of everything that went on with my family?" He nodded. Of course he did. He had heard enough about Eponine from Marius to know that she didn't come from the greatest of families. He notices how she shifts uncomfortably in her seat and clears his throat.

"Are you feeling any better?" She shrugged. "Not really. I'm going to have to face them eventually, and I'm not looking forward to that. I won't be able to watch them be all lovey-dovey without wanting to vomit."

Aaron chuckled. "You'll forget about being in love with him. It'll just take time."

"I suppose so," Eponine gulped down the rest of her tea in one sip and stood up to place the mug in the sink. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, which were still fairly blood-shot from sobbing. "Uhm, I'm gonna get some sleep. Are there any blankets that I can use for the couch?" she inquired.

Aaron shook his head. "You're not sleeping on the couch. Take Combeferre's room. He's probably spending the night at Grantaire's, but even if he comes home he probably won't mind. It's the second door on the right."

Eponine smiled gratefully at the boy in front of her and walked towards Combeferre's room, but turned before she entered. "Oh, Aaron?" His head popped up from where he was looking at his phone. "Yeah?"

"Thank you so much. For everything. You're a great friend," she smiled before going into Combeferre's room and shutting the door behind her.

"No problem," he muttered although she was already gone. After he yawned, he decided that he should probably get some sleep too and headed off to bed, falling asleep almost instantly as his head hit the pillow.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

Antoine Combeferre unlocked his apartment and through off his shoes upon entering. He had spent the night sleeping on Grantaire's floor surrounded by his other friends seeing as they were talking for hours and by the time they were all ready to go to sleep, none of them were in the mood to walk back to their respective apartments.

"Aaron?" Combeferre called, remembering the one thing that he needed to ask his roommate. While at Grantaire's apartment, they had all gotten texts around 1am from Marius asking if Eponine was with them, because she hadn't gone home and Cosette was concerned. Naturally, all the boys and Musichetta couldn't help but worry, but just figured that she had ran into an old friend or something like that.

Musichetta however, wasn't convinced and sent at least a dozen test messages to Aaron asking if he knew where Eponine had went after the Café. "Aaron?" Combeferre called once again, not getting an answer that time either.

He ran a hand through his brown hair and walked to his bedroom so he could change out of yesterday's clothes. He swung open the door and just as he stepped through the door he ran into a tiny person who let out a small squeak. '_What the hell?_' he thought.

The boy looked down to see Eponine and started to laugh. "'Ponine? Is that you?" he tried to continue but kept laughing. Just as Eponine was about to speak, Aaron came out of his room and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Eponine, Are you-" he was about to proceed with what he was saying but he froze and his eyes widened once he saw Combeferre.

"Well, isn't this just great," he mumbled.

By this point, Combeferre's laughing fit had calmed down and he leaned against the door frame. "Just wait until Grantaire and Courfeyrac hear about this. They'll never let you guys live this down," he tried to supress a smirk.

Eponine glared at him and spoke through gritted teeth. "Nothing happened."

"She's right," Aaron piped up. "She wasn't in any shape to go home, especially with, you know, Marius and all, so I invited her back here. We didn't do anything."

"I believe it, but the others probably won't," he stated before turning to face Aaron. "You, why don't you answer your phone? Marius told us that Cosette was worried sick about Eponine, which made 'Chetta worry, and she must have sent you tons of texts."

"Well, I'm clearly alive," Eponine muttered. "You guys didn't have to worry."

"I went to bed early," Aaron explained to Combeferre, ignoring Eponine's comment.

"Still, even though you were having a little sleepover with 'Ponine, we didn't know that. Cosette was panicking according to Musichetta." Aaron rolled his eyes and was about to respond but Eponine cut him off.

"Okay, as amusing as you two are," she said sarcastically, "I should get going. Just so Cosette doesn't drive herself crazy worrying. I'll see you both later. Thanks again, Aaron. You really helped," she said, whispering softly when she addressed Aaron before quickly making her way out of the apartment.

The two boy's eyes followed Eponine as she left and then they both turned to face each other. "Aaron, isn't that your sweater she was wearing?"

Aaron's cheeks turned the slightest shade of red at the comment; something that rarely happened to him. "Shut up, 'Ferre," he mumbled, before going back to his room.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: In all honestly, I was rather disappointed with the lack of reviews on my past chapter because I worked fairly hard on it, but I guess that's life. Either way, the fact that people are still favouriting/following does make me quite a bit happier, so thanks for that. Now, read until the end for a little announcement/suggestion/question I have for you guys. Thanks, again! That pretty much explains why this chapter is short, sorry! Xx. **_

_**Disclaimer: I still don't own Les Miserables. Nothing's changed.**_

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Chapter 4 – Arguments and Interrogations.

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Eponine clumsily fiddled with her keys to unlock the door to her apartment and she could barely step through the door before Cosette had attacked her. The blonde girl gave her a very quick hug before pulling away and speaking. "'Ponine, I was so worried! Marius and I realized that you hadn't come home and we had no clue where you were!"

Eponine sighed and smiled at her friend. She supposes it's nice that despite being in love and whatnot, Cosette and Marius still thought of her safety. "I'm fine, Cosette. I slept at Aaron's." That comment clearly made Cosette excited judging by the smirk that appeared on her face.

"Oh my God! Do you like him? Is this is sweater?" Cosette started to bounce on the balls of her feet and Eponine rolled her eyes. "No, I don't like him. We just became friends the other day," she stated before looking down to notice that yes, she was still wearing is sweater. "And yes… This is his sweater. We were caught in the rain so he let me borrow this. Don't worry, nothing happened," she assured her friend.

"Whatever you say, 'Ponine," Cosette told her, the smirk still present on her face. "Anyways, I was going to go and meet Marius at the park, want to join us?"

"Think what you want," Eponine told her before trying her hardest not to cringe at Cosette's offer. The last thing she wanted to do was be a third wheel with her and Marius.

"Thanks but no thanks. I should get dressed, I have work soon, tell Marius I say hello."

"Will do! Bye!" Cosette said to her before practically skipping out of their apartment. Eponine couldn't help but roll her eyes at the girl's giddiness. She went to her bedroom and changed into a pair of black leggings, her usual boots, a long cream coloured sweater and she threw her dark hair up into a ponytail.

Before leaving the apartment, she grabbed her messenger bag, crappy cellphone and her jean jacket as she left for work.

Eponine swung open the door of the cute little bookstore and her boss looked up. "I thought you were going to be late again," she told her and Eponine bit her lip, not quite knowing how to respond.

"You're not though. Don't worry. Now, I have to get going, so you'll be working alone today. I presume that's not a problem?" Eponine quickly shook her head and sighed as her boss left.

She set her bag down on the counter and put on the black apron all employees were required to wear. Taking a seat on the chair behind the counter, Eponine pulled out her books and started to do some of the homework she had. Being an English Literature major _and _being on a scholarship wasn't always easy, especially since Eponine had a very high average to maintain unless she wanted her scholarship being taken away. That's why she never minded working alone. There were never too many customers, so she was never overwhelmed and she usually got enough quiet to finish up her work.

Eponine had barely written three sentences when she heard the door open and a bunch of chatter filled the store. She craned her neck to see who had entered and slammed her books shut upon seeing who it was. Of course her friends all decided to show up and bother her at work. She noticed that Aaron was missing.

"What do you guys want?" Eponine glared. "Come on, 'Ponine, is it wrong for us to visit you at work?" Grantaire teased, even adding a little pout at the end of his sentence.

"There's nothing wrong with it, but don't you guys have better places to be?"

Courfeyrac stepped forward and leaned over the counter. "Not really, and we have some questions for you." Eponine raised her eyebrows. "Okay. Keep going," she eyed the boys suspiciously.

"Word on the street is that you and Aaron had a bit of a sleepover last night," Courfeyrac wiggled his eyebrows. "Is that true?"

Eponine scanned the group until her eyes landed on Combeferre. "You told them? I'm going to kill you!" She whisper-yelled, even though they were the only ones in the store.

Combeferre help up his hands in front of his chest and chuckled quietly. "I'm sorry, I had to. I tried to tell them not to bring it up, but as you can see, they didn't listen."

Joly smiled softly. "Musichetta will be happy to hear about this."

"Are you guys are a couple now?" John looked shocked.

"No!" Eponine exclaimed, her eyes flashing with anger. "We are not a couple. I don't like him, he doesn't like me, and so it's not going to happen. Am I being clear enough?" she snapped.

Grantaire still wasn't convinced. Not in the slightest. "If you don't like him, then why did you leave his apartment wearing his sweater?" Eponine's eyes widened in embarrassment. "How did you… Combeferre!" she shot a glare in the direction of the boy who was currently standing against a bookshelf reading a book on philosophy. "How much did you tell them?"

"Not as much as you think," he said simply. "Leave me out of this."

"Do you think if you didn't love Marius you would like him?" Joly asked quietly.

Eponine froze. It was a good question, but it made her wonder if that was true. Was Marius the reason she didn't like him? There was nothing wrong with Aaron. He was definitely attractive, and he was smart and cared about Eponine quite a bit, so shouldn't she like him? She had no reason not to other than the fact that he was Aaron Enjolras and she was Eponine Thenardier and they simply wouldn't work out. "I-I don't know," Eponine admitted. As irritating as her friends were, she knew she could trust them when it came to things like this.

"Marius is an oblivious idiot who's in love with your best friend," Courfeyrac stated quite bluntly. "I love the guy, but you should move on." The boys all nodded and murmured responses in agreement.

"You guys don't get it. You're all rich and attractive, don't let that go to your heads," she stated, eying up Grantaire and Courfeyrac on the last part. "You guys have never had any trouble with girls. You don't understand how it feels to be heartbroken like that, and now I'm going to be forced to suffer as I watch them because she's my roommate and there's no escaping it," Eponine tried her hardest not to let her voice crack.

The boys all exchanged nervous glances before Combeferre spoke up. "Guys, I think we should leave her alone," he said, acknowledging how the last thing she wanted was to continue to talk about her feelings.

They all nodded but Joly spoke before they left. "Just so you know, 'Ponine," she looked up as he opened to door to leave. "We've all noticed it. When you're upset over Marius, he's the one who's been there for you and made you feel better, even in the slightest of ways. Remember that," he nodded before leaving with the rest of his friends.

Eponine sunk down in her chair and inhaled and exhaled a few times so she wouldn't cry. Were they right? They had known Aaron for a long time, and even thought that he was incapable of feelings, but now they were jumping to conclusions about her relationship (or lack of one) with Aaron. _No, stop it Eponine. You're being ridiculous, you don't like him. _She kept repeating that in her head to get any possible feelings for him out of her head.

Sure she thought he had pretty eyes and she swears that the first time they shook hands she felt _something _and she wasn't sure was that something was but she knew that it was a good sign, but that didn't mean that she liked him. She couldn't like him. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that they came from two different worlds.

He's an only child, who came from a rich, loving family. She knows that his father is a successful lawyer, and his mother is a nurse at the local hospital back where they all used to live before University. She had seen her multiple times considering the amount of times she found herself in the emergency room with an injury. "I feel down the stairs," "I'm so clumsy," "I fell off my bike," she used to lie to cover up that the injury was really from her father or Montparnasse. Aaron never had to want for anything. He wasn't spoiled, but his family always had enough to provide all of his necessities without giving it a second thought. He was so unbelievably lucky compared to herself.

Eponine and her siblings had been abused since she can remember, so she practically raised them. She had been in and out of part-time jobs since the day she turned fourteen, just so she could provide for her two siblings and herself. She only prays that Azelma, a senior in high school, is able to get a scholarship like she did and hopes that she's taking good care of Gavroche while trying to do so. Once Azelma graduates, they're coming to live with Eponine in the city. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. That's another reason why she and Aaron could never work out.

Her siblings came first, and his education came first. She knew he wanted to be a lawyer, and he would have to work hard to get there. He would never want a girlfriend to distract him.

Eponine re-opened her school books and sighed, deciding to make some use of her time rather than thinking about boys who did nothing but confuse her.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

When Eponine entered her apartment later that day, she was greeted by Cosette, who was tucked into Marius' side on the couch and she saw that some cheesy romance movie was playing on the TV. Marius simply waved at her. "Hey, 'Ponine," she said before curling back into Marius's side, causing Eponine's face to contort into a disgusted expression. Ugh, did they have to be right there in the open, cuddling? It was enough to make Eponine feel tremendously ill. She turned on her heels and walked away to her bedroom without a word to the couple.

Just as Eponine flopped down onto her bed, she heard her phone vibrate. She groaned and reached for the phone to see that she had one new text message. She opened it and saw it was from none other than Aaron Enjolras. Perfect.

"_We need to talk_," it read. Eponine speedily replied. "_No we don't._"

It's not that she wanted to be rude to him. She really just didn't want to spend time with him so she could get even more confused about her feelings towards him.

Eponine sat up straight and awaited a reply from him. A few seconds later, her phone went off and she scanned the screen. "_Please, Eponine. Meet me at the Café Musain._"

The brunette girl ran a hand through her hair as she thought about how to respond. She supposes going and talking to him wouldn't be the end of the world. "_Fine," _she pressed send, wondering if she would regret that choice in a few minutes.

She jumped up from her spot on her bed and didn't even bother to say goodbye to a giggling Cosette and Marius. They were too caught up with each other that they probably wouldn't even notice as she slipped out of the apartment.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

Minutes later, Eponine's arms were crossed as she leaned up against the wall near the door of the Café Musain, waiting for Aaron. The boy entered the Café a few minutes after her. "You're late," she noted.

"My apologies." Dammit, why was that boy always so formal? "In my defense, I never gave a specific time to be here," he added with a small smirk. Eponine shrugged her shoulders. "Fair enough. So why'd you need to speak with me?"

"Don't you want to sit down first?" He pointed over to a table with two chairs in the corner. She nodded and walked towards the table, sitting and resting her elbows on the table, then resting her chin on her hands. "Okay, go," she said to him as he sat.

"I'm guessing you got interrogated by the boys too?" he raised an eyebrow. Eponine was about to tell him what happened earlier but Musichetta interrupted her. "Hey cuties," she said, with a small smirk, clearly assuming they were on a date. "Anything I can get you?"

"Two coffees, thanks," Aaron answered for the both of them. Musichetta turned on her heels to go get their drinks but Aaron stopped her before she could leave. "Oh, 'Chetta," She turned her head to face them. "Mhm?

"Don't tell the boys about us… Being here… Together." She sent the two a confused look and Eponine continued his statement. "They think we're in love with each other, which we're not. We're just friends and don't want them thinking anything else."

Musichetta nodded. "Ah, I've heard all about it. Gabe is pretty convinced you two are going to get together," she said, referring to her boyfriend. She was one of the only people who actually referred to him by his first name. They were about to reply in annoyance but Musichetta had already disappeared behind the counter.

Eponine turned back to face Aaron and let out a sigh. "Yes. They came and bothered me at work about it." Aaron laughed lightly. "They showed up at my place at ten in the morning." Eponine laughed and for the next little while they didn't say a word until Musichetta placed coffees in front of both of them and they mumbled 'thank you'.

"We are just friends, right?" Aaron broke the silence. Eponine's brown eyes widened and she choked on her coffee, almost having to spit it back into the cup. "Y-ye-yes," she stuttered. What was he getting at?

"Good," he nodded. "I like being friends with you, I wouldn't want anything to ruin that," he told her with a small smile. Eponine ignored the small amount of sadness she felt when those words left his mouth.

"Is this the only reason you asked me to come here?" she inquired. "No," he casually took a sip from his cup before replying. "Marius told me he was going over to Cosette's; I figured you'd want someone to hang out with too instead of staying with them."

That's when Eponine lost it. Her feelings for Marius and her feelings for Aaron (both positive and negative) were getting the best of her and she glared at him. "Why do you treat me like some fragile baby? That's not who I am!" He tried to say something but she cut him off. "I've been taking care of myself and my siblings since I was a child, I think I can handle a little bit of heartbreak!" she said, not caring how some of the Café's occupants had turned and looked at her and Aaron.

"Eponine, I'm sorry. I didn't want it to seem like I was babying you."

Eponine stood up at set some change on the table; the payment for her coffee. "It doesn't matter. I'll see you later," she said, her voice barely above a whisper before she stormed out of the Musain, not looking back once.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

_**A/N: Sorry for the shortness of this! I feel like there is much irrelevant-ness to that whole chapter, but that's because I wasn't sure what else to do for this chapter. And that little announcement thingy I mentioned below is here, yay! So, I am torn between writing an AU Enjonine Glee fanfiction, and an AU Enjonine Harry Potter fanfiction. Would anyone be interested in reading either, or in reading both? Let me know. I've been kind of working on both of those, which I hope explains the reason for the shortness/lack of creativity in this chapter.**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: I think a lot of you are going to like this chapter for the most part. Or at least, that's what I hope. Just so you know, the scene after the balcony scene was taking place at the same time as the whole balcony convo. It'll make sense once you get to that part. A lot of this chapter is filler stuff, but I just didn't want to be skipping through days as much as I already seem to be doing. Read and review, xx. **_

_**Disclaimer: I still don't own Les Miserables. Nothing's changed.**_

_/ / / / / / / / / / / /_

Chapter 5 – First Kiss

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

The rest of Eponine Thenardier's week was spent either at school, at work, or avoiding Aaron Enjolras. While she wasn't preoccupied with her studies or her job, she spent her time cooped up in her apartment or as far away from the Café Musain and all her friends as she could have gotten. After her little outburst in the Musain, she was too embarrassed to speak with him nor even look at him. She didn't even bother responding to his texts or answering his calls.

On Friday evening, Eponine sat at the counter of her and Cosette's kitchen, drinking from a water bottle and reading a book when Cosette and Marius strolled in. _He may as well move in now, _Eponine thought bitterly. He was at their place far too often for her liking. Before, she would have enjoyed his company, but considering he would never be hers, every minute he spent at her apartment tore Eponine apart, but she was getting better as the days went on.

She's far too afraid to admit that Aaron may be the cause of her healing heartbreak.

"If you don't mind, Marius and I invited all of his friends over. Musichetta is coming too. Them coming isn't a problem, right?" Cosette asked, but Eponine knew what she meant was 'Aaron coming isn't a problem, right?'

Eponine nodded slowly. "Yeah... that's fine." She didn't really care if any guests were coming over, but she knew Aaron would be a part of the group, and that made her feel nauseous. She'd have to apologize to him. She had no other option.

"Perfect," Cosette clapped both of her hands together and walked over to the kitchen, pulling Marius behind her. His goofy and loving smile didn't go unnoticed.

It caused Eponine's face to contort into a disgusted expression. Ugh, did they have to be right there in the open, being all cute? She loved both of them (in different ways, obviously), but it was enough to make Eponine feel tremendously ill.

"Tell me when everyone arrives, okay?" Once Cosette and Marius nodded at her, she turned on her heels and walked away to her bedroom without another word.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

A few hours later, almost their whole group was gathered in Eponine and Cosette's living room. A knock on the door signalled that more had arrived, and from quickly catching a glimpse of who was already there, she knew it would be Aaron and Combeferre.

Eponine jumped up from her place on the couch and walked over to the door and opened it.

Combeferre gave her a small hug and Aaron stepped into the apartment after him. The two held eye contact and Eponine didn't know what to say to him. She felt heat rise to her cheeks and she struggled to form words.

"I-I-I'm sorry," she was finally able to spit out. "I was out of line at the Café last week."

Aaron nodded in understanding. "It's fine. I shouldn't have been worrying so much, so, sorry for that." Eponine smiled in reply before noticing the whole group was now staring at them. She cleared her throat and spoke.

"Uhm, let's go sit down," she walked back to the living room and sat back down on the couch next to 'Chetta and Joly. Aaron took a spot in between Eponine and Grantaire on the ground.

Grantaire, being his usual self brought quite the amount of alcohol, despite none of them being twenty-one yet. How did he even get his hands on this stuff? Eponine decided she didn't care enough to hear an over exaggerated story about how he was able to get some beer and wine coolers, so she didn't bother to ask.

The group of them sat around, chatting, laughing and sipping their drinks. Grantaire thrust his bottle into the air and spoke up. "I say we play truth or dare!" He announced. Aaron raised an eyebrow. Wasn't it just the other day that Grantaire was scolding him, saying that playing 20 questions with Eponine was something that would have been fine if they were twelve? Now he was suggesting they play truth or dare? Maybe it was the alcohol talking.

The young adults all shrugged and mumbled some mixed responses. Most said 'sure' or 'why not', but Eponine just scoffed and Aaron sighed. "You're ridiculous," the blonde boy told his friend.

"It could be fun," Grantaire said. "Be positive." Aaron's response was a simple "fine," and Grantaire let out a cheer when he heard it.

The game was funny, albeit silly and immature, and it made each member of the group feel like they were fourteen years old again, especially considering how the dares were pretty immature. The most amusing thing was Courfeyrac walking out onto the balcony and belting some Disney song or another quite loudly for the streets of New York to hear. It was all very high school like.

After a few more truths and a few more dares, Aaron excused himself to go to the bathroom just as it landed on Grantaire's turn.

"Eponine," he smirked, making Eponine feel worried. "Truth or dare?"

Eponine sighed loudly. If she picked truth, he'd for sure ask her a question about Aaron. "Dare," she chose, deciding that since Aaron was in the bathroom, it wouldn't be likely that the dare would involve him.

"Alright, miss Thenardier," Grantaire began, the smirk still present on his face. He took a sip from his beer before continuing. "When Aaron comes out of the bathroom, you have to kiss him. It has to be a real kiss. Not just a pitiful little peck, got it?"

If looks could kill, Grantaire would be dead. Unfortunately, not even Eponine's glares were that strong, but they came pretty close.

"You're an idiot," she spoke through gritted teeth. "A dare's a dare," he replied, her insult clearly not offending him as per usual.

"Fine," Eponine stood up as she caught a glimpse of Aaron re-entering the living room. He took in how everyone was staring at the two of them. "What's the ma—" he tried but wasn't able to finish his sentence.

Eponine walked up to him swiftly and threw her arms around his neck, pressing her lips to his. Aaron didn't know how to respond and stumbled backwards, almost backing up into a wall until he realized what was happening. Eponine was kissing him. And he would never say it out loud, but he thought she was pretty good at it too.

He soon reciprocates the kiss and places his hands on her waist, even though he's ninety-nine percent sure that this whole thing is a dare, judging by the cat calls he hears from behind them. Eponine pulls away and he sees that her cheeks are just as red as he guesses his own are. She turns her head to face their friends and smirks. "Happy?"

"A bit shocked about what I just saw, but yes. Happy," Grantaire says. Eponine makes her way back to her spot and Aaron lingers in the hall for a while.

Eponine just _kissed _him. He wasn't sure what he thought of Eponine until now. He knew that he liked her eyes and her smile was adorable and he also liked how she was one of the few girls who didn't giggle at the sight of him and seeing her always managed to put a smile on his face.

He also knew that he doesn't fall in love. At the end of the day, he believes love is a kind of stupid, especially when there are more important things to be dealt with in life. Love can make you seem like a fool, and his good friend Marius is a prime example of it.

However, now that she's kissed him, he feels that she could be the one who's finally cracked the marble statue as the guys would say.

"Aaron? Are you coming back?" Marius asks. He runs a hand through his blond hair, messing it up slightly and looks at his friends, most of which are wearing knowing smirks. "Uh, yeah, sorry," he takes his seat between Eponine and Grantaire, avoiding Eponine's eyes, but what he can see from the corner of his eye is a curtain of wavy hair covering most of her face, and her hands are nervously playing with them hem of her sweater.

The game continues on but neither Aaron nor Eponine speak too much. They both occasionally chuckle at the ridiculous dare or confession, but their awkwardness and discomfort is obvious.

Marius stops the game of truth or dare when a tipsy Grantaire dares Cosette to kiss Courfeyrac. She says no, but Marius still insists that the game is stupid and they should just talk like normal. He also wraps an arm around Cosette's shoulders, resulting in Eponine internally cringing at the gesture.

Just like that, the immature game ended and the group starts to recall the time when most of them first got drunk at Grantaire's house when they were all fifteen. Eponine pretends like she is listening to the conversation with much interest, but Musichetta knows something is up. Even Cosette is sending Eponine a worried glance from time to time and keeps mouthing, 'you okay?'

Musichetta lightly touches Eponine's arm. "'Ponine…"

Eponine whips her head so she's now facing Musichetta rather than John Prouvaire who is in the midst of a story. "Can we talk, 'Ponine?" Eponine nods, waiting for her to continue. "Privately, maybe? On the balcony, perhaps?"

Eponine curiously lifts her eyebrows but still stands up and waits for Musichetta as she tells Joly that she'll be right back and plants a kiss on his cheek. Once her friend stands up, Eponine strode across the apartment and opened the door leading out to the balcony.

Eponine and Musichetta both take a step out onto the small balcony and Eponine closes the door behind them. She immediately shivers at the cold night air. She wraps her arms around herself in an effort to keep her warm, but considering the cool wind, she was still unpleasantly cold.

Musichetta didn't seem effected by the weather and instead leaned over the balcony slightly, looking at the streets below her. Eponine however avoided the railing. She hated the balcony and always felt like she was going to fall when she leant over the side.

Eponine cleared her throat, not wanting to be out on the balcony for longer than she had too. "'Chetta, why did you need to talk to me in private?"

Musichetta turned from the balcony so she was now only leaning on her side instead of her stomach. She smiled softly at Eponine, her black curls blowing around her face. "Do you like Aaron?"

"He's a great friend," Eponine mumbled, even though she knew that's not what Musichetta meant.

"No, 'Ponine. Do you _like _Aaron?" she repeated, this time speaking slower and putting emphasis on the word _like. _

"Of course not." Was it a lie? Eponine didn't even know herself. "You know how I feel about Marius," she paused, speaking quietly as she continued. "I don't know if those feelings are going to change any time soon."

"But they have, and I can see it," Musichetta offered a tiny smile but Eponine just responded with a look of confusion. "I used to notice how you acted around Marius. You would turn bright red when he would touch you, and smile whenever he was within ten feet of you," Eponine was embarrassed to admit those things were very true.

"When him and Cosette first started dating, it tore you apart and I saw it in your face, but now you just seem irritated with all their lovely-dovey acts , but all of us are irritated by that, except for John maybe," she laughed softly.

Eponine shrugged, her lips pressed into a straight line. "I don't understand what you're trying to explain to me."

Musichetta let out a sigh before she spoke. "He's changing you. And I daresay you're changing him too. Joly's even noticed it. He said no one has ever had the ability to make him smile like you do."

Eponine knew she now looked visibly nervous and gulped. Musichetta was such a good friend and in times like this, she always knew exactly what to say. "I- I don't know what I'm doing," she breathed.

"I don't even know how I feel about Marius anymore and I certainly don't know how I feel about Aaron. He's great and he really cares about me, and I really care about him but," Eponine was speaking very fast and started to hyperventilate slightly. Musichetta stopped her mid-sentence by grabbing her by her shoulders and shaking lightly.

"Eponine, you just need time. It's normal to be confused about things like this," she enveloped her friend into a hug and spoke once more after the girls pulled away from each other. "But, 'Ponine, don't push that boy away. He's a good guy," Musichetta disappeared back into the apartment and Eponine slowly trailed behind her.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

In the meantime, the group was trying to guess what Eponine and Musichetta was talking about. They could see Musichetta speaking to a distraught looking Eponine, but couldn't hear their conversation through the glass door.

They all threw around ideas, and Joly almost spit his beer all over the place when Courfeyrac jokingly suggested that maybe Musichetta was pregnant. Cosette had an idea of what they were talking about and stopped the boys just as Grantaire was about to say something. "I wouldn't worry. Eponine was looking a little pale; Musichetta probably just thought she needed some fresh air and a little chat.

The look on Joly's face was almost comical as his eyes filled with worry. "Is Eponine sick?"

"No, I'm sure it's nothing like that," Cosette dismissed his question with a wave of her hand. "Nothing to worry about."

Cosette took notice of a quiet blond boy sitting on the ground. "Aaron?" she spoke slowly. "Are you feeling alright? You don't look too well either."

Aaron's eyes were focussed on the ground but he looked over at Cosette when she spoke to him (for what he thinks is the first time) and nods. "I'm perfectly fine, just a bit tired out," He says and he can easily tell that Grantaire is about to say something to him – probably something silly about Eponine – but the college students all fall silent when the back door slide open and they all turn just in time to see Eponine shutting the door behind her.

"'Chetta, you're not pregnant are you?" Joly asked with a scared expression upon his face. His friends all try to conceal their laughter, even Eponine and Aaron look to be stifling small laughs.

Musichetta laughs and takes her seat next to him and shakes her head. "No, and even if I was, do you seriously think I'd be telling Eponine before you? No offense, 'Ponine."

Eponine doesn't seem offended in the slightest and sits on the couch next to the couple, sneaking the ocaisional glance at Aaron, who was looking in the complete opposite direction.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

It's got to be at least one in the morning when everyone finally decides they're going to leave. Everyone stands up and Eponine yawns and stretches, tiredness taking over. She walks with Cosette and her guests to the door.

Everyone starts to say goodbye and thank Eponine and Cosette for having them, but Eponine notices Aaron standing away from their crowded circle. She takes a deep breath and walks over to him. _Remember what Musichetta told you, _she has to remind herself. _Don't push him away._

"You don't look so good. You feeling okay?" she asked. "I was about to ask you the same thing."

The awkward silence that follows is painful and Eponine tucks a strand of hair behind her ear before ending the silence. "Listen, I'm sorry for kissing you," _even though I didn't really mind it. _"It was a dare and I hope it doesn't ruin our, uh, friendship."

"No worries, 'Ponine." She can't help the smile that creeps onto her face at the use of her nickname. "Thanks for inviting me though, goodnight, Eponine."

She waves shyly as he walks away and leans back onto a wall once all of their friends are gone and she and Cosette stand alone by the door.

"Is anything bothering you?" Cosette knits her perfectly shaped eyebrows together and tilted her head slightly to the side.

"Nope," Eponine lied. "I'm going to bed, night Cosette," she smiled softly.

"Eponine, wait," Eponine stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Cosette. "If it makes any difference, you two did look pretty adorable when you kissed him," she said, her voice filled with sincerity.

Eponine just scoffed and shook her head, her waves of hair falling into her face. "Goodnight Cosette," she says again, not in the mood to discuss how 'adorable' she looked when she kissed Aaron Enjolras at all.


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: I really wanted to update this sooner, but I was overwhelmed with assignments for school, have been writing a lot of my other Enjonine story that I'm working on currently and really just suffered from writer's block which is why once again I'm skipping quite a bit of time. Read and review, xx.**_

_**Disclaimer: I still don't own Les Miserables. Nothing's changed.**_

_/ / / / / / / / / / / /_

Chapter 6 – Drunk.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

The end of October rolled around quicker than anyone expected it would. For the group of friends, it seemed like University was going by a lot faster than they expected.

Of course though, with the end of October coming, it also meant that Grantaire's birthday was soon approaching. It was an event that would no doubt be filled with drunkenness, and Eponine wasn't too surprised when she came into the Café Musain to hear an irritated Grantaire trying to reason with Aaron as their friends looked on.

Eponine Thenardier went over to the counter to order herself a green tea but kept sneaking glances at her friends, trying to guess what they were talking about, because Grantaire's statements had turned from frustrated cries to whisper-yelling once the café grew busier.

The brunette girl moved closer to the noise and stepped back when Grantaire looked at her and sighed. "Finally! Someone who he's actually going to listen to!"

Eponine shot him a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?" She took a seat in between Aaron and Cosette and waited for Grantaire to explain what he said.

"'Ponine, you're going to my birthday party, correct?" he asked. "Of course," Eponine nodded. Although she wasn't too keen on the idea of getting drunk, Grantaire was still a good friend of hers.

That was evidently enough for Grantaire and he turned back to Aaron. "See! If Eponine is coming, I'm sure you can!" he said before taking a sip from his coffee.

"It's just that I'm not in the mood to get drunk and do something stupid."

Eponine rolled her eyes and turned so she was facing him, pretending not to notice how close their faces now were to each other. "Aaron, he's only going to turn nineteen once," she reminded.

"Yeah, but," Aaron tried but Eponine wouldn't let him finish. "Nope, no buts. If I'm going, you're going too. I'll try and make sure you don't get drunk if you do the same for me," she suggested.

He sighed, giving in. "Fine, I'll go. But you guys have to make sure I don't do anything stupid," he pointed at all of his friends to which they all nodded. Courfeyrac also nodded but scoffed a little bit.

"Live a little bit, would you?" he joked.

"I'll try," Aaron retorted with a sarcastic and fake-looking smile.

"You better try harder, marble man," Courfeyrac teased him again and Aaron realized that that's the first time the nicknames been used in a while.

When he thinks about it, he's pretty sure the last time anyone referred to him as a 'marble man' was before he met Eponine.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

For Eponine, Musichetta, and Cosette, the hour before Grantaire's birthday party on October 30th was spent fixing their hair, makeup and clothing, or in Eponine's case, Musichetta and Cosette playing around with her hair and makeup and trying to get her to stop reading her book for a few minutes as they tried to straighten her wavy hair and line her eyes with thick swipes of eyeliner.

Finally, the two girls were done and stood back to admire their work.

"Eponine, you look beautiful," Cosette mused. Musichetta nodded. "Agreed."

Eponine walked over the full length mirror in the corner of the room and had to admit, she did look better than usual, and she really did feel beautiful.

Her dark brown hair was straightened and her bangs were pinned into some pretty French braid. She wore a dress that was white and short-sleeved and it flared out at the hips. She had a black skinny belt around her waist and Musichetta and Cosette were able to convince her to put aside the combat boots for one night, but Eponine decided to wear a pair of Musichetta's navy blue vans with the dress. They looked worn-out and un-fancy compared to the pretty white dress, but that's just how Eponine liked it so her friends didn't object. There was no way they were getting her into heels anyways.

Cosette and Musichetta both touched up their makeup until they left Eponine and Cosette's apartment, hailed a taxi and gave the taxi driver the address to Grantaire and Courfeyrac's shared apartment, where the party was being held.

When the young women arrived, the party was already loud and Eponine took a wild guess that Grantaire was probably already hammered. She was proven right when he sauntered up to them with a wild and exciting look in his eyes and a beer bottle clutched in one hand.

"Cosette, Musichetta, 'Ponine!" he greeted the girls happily. The three all let out a chorus of happy birthday wishes as he wrapped his arms around each of them, enveloping them in a hug. "'Chetta, your boyfriend is over there, Cosette, so is yours," he slurred his words slightly, pointing to the kitchen area.

"Eponine, Aaron is over there too," he said before disappearing into the large group of college students who were dancing, drinking, talking or doing all three.

Eponine felt the heat rise to her cheeks at his comment and Musichetta and Cosette both giggled at her. "Come on, Eponine," Cosette said as both girls dragged her by the wrists over to where Marius, Joly, Combeferre, John and Aaron were all standing by the kitchen counter.

Marius quickly snaked an arm around Cosette's waist and whispered something along the lines of "you look beautiful" into her ear before kissing her on the forehead. Musichetta pressed a short kiss onto Joly's cheek before pulling away and curling into his side as he put an arm around her shoulders. _Ugh, Couples, _Eponine though to herself.

The small group was soon caught up in a conversation revolving around how hard Grantaire was going to try to get each and every one of them drunk by the morning when Eponine took notice of Aaron looking down at her shoes.

"Nice shoes, 'Ponine."

Eponine looked down at her shoes and let out a small laugh. "They're Musichetta's. She and Cosette were trying to get me into heels but that wasn't going to happen. They make my feet hurt far too much," she explained.

"Ah." Aaron nodded in understanding. "They look nice though. Different, but nice," he offered up a soft smile and ignored how he could feel his cheeks and ears turning the slightest shade of red. "Thanks," she smiled sheepishly.

Once some irritating dubstep remix of a song ended, a loud pop song started to blare and Musichetta squealed softly. "Cosette, 'Ponine! Come dance, I love this song!"

Cosette smiled and nodded and Eponine tried to protest but her two friends were practically begging her to come so she gave in. "Fine," she finally sighed.

The girls all waved at the boys as they went off to dance where most of the party's occupants were crowded. "Eponine looks lovely," John pointed out. "Don't you think so Aaron?" Combeferre added.

Aaron scoffed and shook his head to hide his reddening cheeks. "Yeah, whatever you guys say," he took a long swig of his beer, which was unusual, but no one commented on it.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

Aaron Enjolras shoved his hands in his pockets and strolled around the apartment, laughing when Courfeyrac was slurring his words but he heard him say something along the lines of "you should go make out with Eponine now," and Grantaire started yelling vulgar words at him upon seeing that he had set his beer down long ago. He wasn't a big drinker, and the fact that it was Grantaire's birthday wasn't going to change that.

He was walking away from Grantaire and Courfeyrac when he bumped into a small person who simply giggled and hiccupped softly. Oh God, no.

"Oops! Sorry!" Eponine's voice was unusually high-pitched and she was giggling like a star struck twelve year old girl. One of their friends must have done something to get her drunk, and he wasn't too shocked about that, he was more shocked that Eponine didn't notice and/or just let it happen.

"Eponine," he started. She was looking at him weird and smiling ridiculously. "Yes?" she stretched out her word and started toying with the collar of his plaid shirt.

"You're drunk."

"No, I'm not," she sounded offended. "But you look really cute in this shirt," she giggled once again.

"Oh God," he murmured. She tapped him on the nose and smirked. "Don't be so dramatic, Apollo," she teased.

"Apollo?" he questioned. "It's a nickname, silly. Duh," she told him, and he's not so sure how he feels about drunken Eponine. It's different, that's for sure. "He's the God of knowledge, and, and," Eponine tapped her lip as she thought of what else she was going to say.

"Some other stuff too," she finally said. "Well, it's better than some of my other nicknames," he admitted.

"Perfect! Yay!" she clapped her hands together and started to bounce up and down but he saw the dizzy look in her eyes and steadied her by placing both of his hands and her shoulders.

Eponine let out a little yawn and moved closer to him, pressing her hands against her chest. "I'm tired. Help," she pouted for effect. "I want to go home. It's loud," she complained.

Aaron looked around at the party. Random couples making out, Courfeyrac hitting on girls, a drunken Grantaire singing some cheesy song with John Prouvaire. He really wouldn't be missing much if he took Eponine back to her apartment. "Want me to take you?" he suggested.

There was no way in hell he was letting her get back to her apartment by herself.

"Yes please."

"Alright, let's get going then," he didn't bother to say a goodbye to Grantaire, because he knew he would just get a drunken lecture about why it was wrong to leave early. He would thank him for having him the next time he saw him.

Eponine skipped after him – literally – and he had to stifle his laughter. Once they exited the apartment building he started heading in the direction of her building, she was lagging behind, walking on her tippy toes across the curb, absentmindedly singing some song that he swears is by the Jonas Brothers or something ridiculous like that.

He stops and waits for her to catch up after she trips off the curb and runs over to him. "Eponine, do you even have your keys?" Eponine furrowed her eyebrows in thought and dug through the pockets on her dress, which he presumed were empty.

"Nope! Cosette has them!" Aaron groaned at her response. They had already walked halfway back to Eponine's apartment and it would be faster to just go to his building now. "Fine, you can sleep at my place again." He only hoped that this time Combeferre wouldn't find her and jump to conclusions again.

"Okie!" Eponine let out yet another giggle before returning to whatever song she was singing.

Once they got to his apartment building, he let her walk in front of him and pushed the small of her back softly to lead her to the elevator. They both stepped in and she started jumping up and down once the elevator started to move, going on about how much fun she had at the party.

The elevator soon let out a small 'ding!' noise and Aaron sighed as Eponine cheered. "Yay! Finally!" she said, even though the elevator ride was barely fifteen seconds. He practically dragged her to his apartment because she kept stumbling into walls and clearly wasn't able to walk straight very well.

Aaron unlocked the door to his apartment and waited for Eponine to walk in before entering, kicking off his shoes and locking the door behind him. He looked as Eponine took a seat at the kitchen counter and struggled to take off her shoes. He raised his eyebrows and spoke up. "Need help?"

She was finally able to get them off and she chucked them at the front door. "Nope! Done!" she said once they hit the floor, now letting her feet swing above the ground as she sat on the stool. He nodded. "Okay then."

Aaron walked over to his fridge and swung it open, reaching in for a water bottle. "Here, drink this. It probably won't make you feel better, but at least you'll stay hydrated," he shrugged. Eponine struggled to unscrew the cap so he did it for her before sliding the bottle back in front of her.

She downed half the bottle in one sip and set it back down with a sigh. "My head hurts."

"It's just gonna get worse," he told her quite honestly. She pouted and took one more sip of water before setting it back down. "I want to go to sleep."

"You know where Combeferre's room is, right?" She nodded and hopped off the stool. "Do you need anything to change into?" Eponine shook her head as she slowly made her way down the hall, clearly trying not to fall over.

Once he saw that she was able to exit the kitchen without tripping, he turned around and grabbed another bottle of water and took a long sip before deciding he should probably make his way to bed too.

After brushing his teeth, Aaron pushed open the door to his room to see that Eponine had mistaken his room for Combeferre's and was already sleeping soundly with her chest slowly rising and falling and her dark hair sprawled out onto the pillow. "Great," he muttered, careful not to wake her and turned around. He supposes he'll just sleep in Combeferre's room.

But as he stepped out of his room and into the hall, he remembered something. Wasn't it a bad idea to leave a drunken person alone? Especially if they're sleeping? He's almost positive he's heard many people say this to him before, she he walks back into his room and slides in next to her, still making sure to leave a good amount of space between them.

He sat upright and grabbed a book from his bedside table, starting to read as he also kept an eye on the sleeping girl next to him. Eventually, his eyes grew heavy and he fell asleep as soon as he laid down and shut his eyes.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

The next morning, Aaron woke up to a terrible noise. He rubbed his eyes and saw that Eponine was gone, but judging by the noises in the bathroom across the hall, she was still in his apartment.

All he heard was the sound of gagging and what was definitely Eponine emptying the contents of her stomach. He got up and walked over to the bathroom and leaned against the door frame. "Eponine?" he spoke as she threw up for what was hopefully the last time and flushed the toilet.

"You don't look so good," he told her as she leaned up against the wall and hugged her knees to her chest. Her hair was messy and the small braid had fallen out, leaving pieces of wavy hair falling into her face and he makeup was smeared everywhere.

"I feel like shit." Aaron couldn't help but chuckle softly as he walked into the bathroom and sat down across from her. "That's what happens during a hangover. Grantaire deals with this weekly," he said, only half-joking about the Grantaire part.

"I'm going to punch whoever allowed me to get this drunk," she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and stood up, having to steady herself by putting her hand on the bathroom wall. Aaron also stood up and put a hand on her arm. "Come on; let's get some food in you."

Eponine nodded and slowly walked closely behind Aaron into the kitchen where Combeferre was standing, reading through the newspaper and sitting by the toaster. "Morning." He took a sip of his coffee and greeted them without even looking up.

Eponine blinked a few times and sat at the kitchen counter. "'Ferre, it's not what it looks like." He looked up and eyed her. "I didn't say anything. It looks like he helped you when you were drunk last night, he stayed with you as you slept in case anything happened; which is why you both slept in the same bed, and he woke up this morning because you were vomiting. It's not that hard to guess."

Eponine nodded and twiddled her thumbs. "Oh, okay. I don't really remember what happened exactly, but that sounds right."

Aaron handed her a glass of water, an aspirin and a box of crackers, "Here. It should help." she smiled softly in thanks and gulped down the pill.

"My God," she rubbed her temples, trying to ease the headache. "Who got me that drunk? I sure as hell don't remember drinking that much voluntarily."

"It was probably Grantaire or Courfeyrac. They're both known for spiking drinks and filling cups up with alcohol when you're not looking," Combeferre told her.

Aaron nodded. "Yeah, they've done that to me more times than I can count."

"I'm going to kill them," Eponine said, her voice filled with irritation, as she nibbled on a cracker.

Aaron leaned over the counter and shook his head softly as he laughed at her. "How about you just focus on getting rid of this hangover first?"

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

_**A/N: I hope you guys liked that! I can't promise when the next chapter will be up, but I'll try to write it and post it ASAP. I'm also working on another story like I mentioned above, and I'm hoping to post the first chapter of the soon. **_


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I feel guilty because I barely even thought about writing this chapter until a couple of days ago. Honestly, I just had major writer's block once again and I don't really know what to do with this story. I have one little plot idea and then how they're going to eventually get together, but other than that, I'm really not sure. So if you guys have any suggestions or anything you want to see in this story, I'm open to just about anything right now, please leave them in the reviews. However, I recently reached 40 followers which is a big accomplishment for me, actually, so thank you all for that. Read, review and stay awesome, xx.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Les Miserables. Nothing's changed.**

_/ / / / / / / / / / / /_

Chapter 7 – Courfeyrac's Plan.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

As Eponine entered the Café Musain after her shift at work, she caught sight of Aaron, who was sitting at a table in the corner, but he wasn't alone.

She sat down with her friends and shot a look of disgust at the two pretty girls who were standing in front of Aaron at the little table and chair set he occupied. "Who are they?" she asked once she turned to look at the group.

Combeferre was the one to answer her. He shrugged. "Not sure, but I think they go to NYU, I've seen them before."

"Why are they talking to him like that?" Eponine looked back once more and couldn't help the slightest pang of jealously as he laughed quietly at something one of the girls said. "They're all over him, I mean, that blonde one is making it so obvious by twirling her hair like that, ugh."

"Feeling jealous, 'Ponine?" Courfeyrac smirked. "Of course not. Stop jumping to conclusions."

"If you like him, why don't you just tell him?" John suggested. Eponine tried to defend herself but Grantaire spoke before she could even start. "Jehan, Eponine already explained she doesn't like Aaron," he said. Eponine smiled. "Thank you, for being the only sane one here."

"I'm not done," he held up a hand. "Whether we choose to believe her or not is our choice. However, I don't think any of us actually believe her." Eponine buried her face in her hands and mumbled "you guys suck," through her hands.

Musichetta walked over with their usual orders and set all the drinks down in front of them before she greeted her boyfriend. When she noticed how Eponine's face was covered by her hands and she raised an eyebrow. "'Ponine, what's the matter?"

"These idiots still think I like Aaron," she groaned.

Musichetta laughed. "Guys, when Eponine and Aaron want to admit their feelings, they will. For now, let's just let it happen naturally, alright?" she smiled before walking away.

As Musichetta exited their little area of the Café, Eponine heard two annoyingly giddy voices say "Bye Aaron!" and Aaron Enjolras waved at the two girls as they left the Musain. Eponine couldn't help but roll her eyes at the girls.

Aaron got up from his seat in the corner and took a seat next to Grantaire upon joining his friends. "Who were those girls? It seems like you have a fan club now," Eponine's voice was filled with annoyance.

"Just some random girls I know from school, that's all," he shrugged. "You sure that's all they are? Because Eponine over here seemed to think—" His sentence was interrupted by Eponine kicking him straight in the shin and flashing a fake smile afterwards. "Never mind," he mumbled.

"Okay then…" Aaron looked between his friends who all seemed to simultaneously take long sips from their coffee cups. "Just ignore him," Eponine told Aaron.

"I've been doing so for a while," he smiled softly and Grantaire rolled his eyes.

"I resent that."

"Okay, I didn't each lunch so I'm gonna grab a muffin or something," Eponine said as she stood up. "Anyone wanna come?" she asked, even though the counter was only a few feet away.

Aaron stood up. "Yeah, I'm gonna grab something too," and with that the two walked to line up at the counter together.

"Perfect, they're both gone," Courfeyrac said.

Cosette knit her eyebrows together. "What do you mean by that?" she asked. "I have a plan."

"This can't be good," Marius shook his head slightly. "Let me finish. This is a good idea, I promise."

His friends all nodded and motioned for him to continue. "Cosette, you and Musichetta will meet Eponine and your apartment later, and we'll all do the same with Aaron."

"Why?" Combeferre looked up from the book he was reading.

"We're not blind, but clearly they are. If we don't force them to realize they both like each other, they probably never will." Cosette looked a bit nervous. "I don't know, I really don't think we should meddle."

"She has a point," Joly said.

"No, guys, you don't understand. You saw how those girls were giggling at Aaron, and if I'm being honest, Eponine's pretty hot," he shrugged.

Grantaire took a sip of his coffee and nodded. "I think you're right."

Courfeyrac pointed at him friend and smiled. "See, he gets it."

Cosette sighed. "It's just that Eponine's been through a lot when it comes to relationships. Everything that happened with that Thomas Montparnasse guy and stuff, it's just terrible. I wouldn't blame her for not rushing into things."

"We're not rushing into anything," Courfeyrac said. "We're just trying to get them to face the facts."

"Fine, I see your point. I'll tell Musichetta to meet at our place later," Cosette gave in.

"Great, boys, what do you think?" They all exchanged glances before nodding.

"Perfect," Courfeyrac clapped his hands together and a very proud smile appeared on his face.

"What are we talking about?" Eponine asked as her and Aaron returned to their table.

"Nothing!" The group all said a little bit too loudly, causing weird looks from Aaron and Eponine, but once Grantaire immediately started talking about some new movie that was showing (an obvious attempt to change the conversation), the two forgot all about it.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

Later that night, Musichetta, Eponine and Cosette all sat on the floor of Eponine and Cosette's living area. In the background, the TV was showing some cheesy romantic comedy that they found while flipping through channels, one large pizza box was open and surrounded by some bags of candy in the middle of their little circle and the girls were all dressed in their pajamas. It was like having a teenage sleepover all over again.

Cosette had sent Musichetta a quick text informing her of Courfeyrac's plan a few hours before, and she reluctantly agreed. Eponine took a bite out of one of the pizza slices and swallowed before she spoke. "So, what's the occasion for this little pizza party?"

"We wanted to talk to you," Cosette bit her lip. "Just don't get mad, okay?"

"Whatever, just go on. You guys are scaring me."

"You have to promise not to get mad," Musichetta said. "Fine, I promise. Now go," Eponine said with the slightest eye roll.

The two girls exchanged glances before they both looked at Eponine. "Ep, we really don't want to pester you," Cosette started softly. "But please, just tell us, do you like Aaron or not?"

Eponine choked on the bite of pizza she was swallowing and took a long swig of water to stop her coughing fit. "Why?"

Musichetta sighed. "Just tell us. Do you or do you not?" Eponine crossed her legs and fiddled with the sleeves of her hoodie in her lap. "I don't know, I mean," she tried to think of what to say but she really had no idea. "I just don't know."

Cosette and Musichetta nodded in understanding. "Alright, 'Ponine, let's start off with an easier question," Cosette smiled. "What do you like about him?"

Eponine sighed and thought about it. "Well, he's a really good friend even though we really just got to know each other a few weeks ago. He's smart too, which is nice. He didn't judge me for the crap I went through in my past and he also cares about me a lot. Like when I was drunk, he took care of me and didn't take advantage of me even after I went and slept in his bed, and when I was walking alone in the rain one time, he brought me back to his place and let me stay the night. When he's not being all mature and stuff, he's actually kind of funny and witty in a way, but it's a different way than most guys are, and I don't know, when I'm around him I'm not uncomfortable or anything, it's just usually easy to talk to him and I like being with him."

The two girls gaped at Eponine. They sure weren't expecting her to pour her heart out like that. "Well that's," Musichetta searched for a word but Cosette finished for her. "Adorable. That's what it is."

Eponine felt the heat rising in her cheeks and she bit her lip. "Can we talk about something else?"

Musichetta nodded. "Here's a more difficult question. What _don't _you like about him?"

Eponine really couldn't think about anything that she disliked about him. "He enjoys treating me like a baby. But I can take care of myself. He doesn't need to worry so much," she said, looking down as she picked at the ends of her hair.

"'Ponine, you do know that's not at all a bad thing," Cosette laughed softly. "I think you really like him."

Musichetta nodded. "I have to agree with her. After hearing all of that, it's undeniable."

"I don't want to like him," she whispered. "Why not?" Her friends both asked at the same time.

"Because he's Aaron Enjolras and I'm Eponine Thenardier and we just come from different backgrounds. It would never work." Her friend's confused looks urged her to continue. "He comes from this perfect, rich family and I come from, well, I come from just the messiest childhood ever. I suffered through so much and I'm glad that made me such a stronger person, but he deserves so much better."

"Eponine, don't ever say that," Cosette placed a hand on her friends arm. "No, I'm right. Those pretty girls who were flirting with him in the café are what he deserves. Someone pretty and rich, you know? Someone like him," she said, hoping they would get her message.

Musichetta shook her head. "That's ridiculous, Eponine. You're beautiful; I don't care what you say, because you truly are. The fact that your mother and father and idiot ex-boyfriend told you otherwise doesn't mean anything. And Aaron's not one to care whether someone's rich or not. You two would be perfect for each other, and money or status can't change that," she finished looking very proud with her pep talk.

"You guys are the best friends ever," Eponine smiled and them, grateful to have them in her life.

"I try," Musichetta laughed and Cosette laughed along with her.

"Do you think you're gonna, you know, make a move or anything anytime soon?" Cosette asked hopefully. Eponine shook her head. "I don't think so. I want to wait things out. I just don't want to risk our friendship unless both of us are positive about things."

"Alright, fair enough," Cosette smiled.

"Oh, one last thing," Eponine said. "Who put you up to this?"

The girls pretended like they didn't know what she was talking about. "What do you mean?" Musichetta widened her eyes and faked confusion.

"I know you guys wouldn't bother me unless one of the boys bugged you about it. Which one was it?" she asked, a smirk pulling at her lips.

"Courfeyrac," Cosette and Musichetta answered.

Eponine laughed. "Well, I really shouldn't be shocked."

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

While Cosette and Musichetta bothered Eponine about Aaron, the boys were bothering him about her as well.

The group hung out in Combeferre and Aaron's apartment, discussing random topics until Courfeyrac decided that he had had enough of small talk and sighed. "Let's get to the point here, Aaron, do you or do you not like Eponine?"

"I've told you guys before, I don't like Eponine."

"So you think she's ugly?" Grantaire asked, hoping to irritate Aaron.

"No, I never said that. Eponine's a very pretty girl but we're just friends."

"Please stop lying to us," Courfeyrac shook his head. "Or better yet, stop lying to yourself," Grantaire said.

Aaron rolled his eyes and ignored them. He turned towards his other friends. "Do you agree with this?" He pointed and Grantaire and Courfeyrac.

They all shrugged. John looked at him very seriously. "The thing is, when you look at 'Ponine, it's usually the same look Joly and Marius get when they look at Musichetta and Cosette."

"That's ridiculous. You're comparing two friends to two couples who are completely in love."

"Why don't you just ask her out? Movie theatres are always nice for first dates. You could even just take her to the Musain," Marius suggested.

Joly nodded. "Movie theatres are rather unsanitary, but the Café is always nice."

"I'm not taking her out on a date because I don't like her," Aaron sighed in frustration. "And we've already had coffee at the Musain, but it wasn't a date," he muttered.

Combeferre rolled his eyes. "Aaron, I know she was drunk but you two slept in the same bed. You didn't seem to have much of a problem with that."

The other boys all started laughing and Grantaire's eyes widened at Aaron. "I'm proud of you, my friend. Nice job," he continued to laugh. "How come we never heard about this?" Courfeyrac lifted his eyebrows.

"Because nothing happened. She went to bed in my bed because she thought my room was 'Ferre's, and I didn't think it would be smart to leave a drunk person alone."

"Alright fine, but give us one good reason why you don't like Eponine," Courfeyrac said, but before Aaron could answer, he said something else. "Oh, and saying that you two are just friends is not a good enough reason."

Aaron looked like he was about to respond very confidently before Courfeyrac continued his statement. He ran a hand through his blond curls as he thought about a suitable answer. "I, I, I, well, she," the boy stuttered (which was _very _unusual for him as he thought of what to say and the boys smirked. "Oh, I know," he stated.

"Alright, go on then," Courfeyrac didn't look very convinced.

"She's too opinionated and stubborn," Aaron crossed his arms, but didn't sound like he was saying the tiniest bit of truth.

"That's not necessarily bad," Marius said.

"But, I-" Aaron started but Combeferre cut him off. "If I'm correct, I do remember you saying that having their own opinions and not just 'going with the flow' is something that you like in girls?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I never said anything like that," Aaron huffed. "Yes you did, " Joly supported Combeferre. "I remember it. We were all there."

"You're all imagining things."

"No, we're really not," Grantaire rolled his eyes. "You're just trying to think of an excuse to prove to us that you don't like Eponine even though you definitely do."

Aaron laughed dryly. "Think what you want, but you all need to get your facts straight."

"Just wait, Aaron," John smiled softly. "You two will be a couple soon enough."

With that, Aaron groaned. "You're all bad people."


	8. (Important) Author's Note

Author's note: Hey guys, its Serena. This isn't a chapter, but an author's note that you all should read. So it's really upsetting for me to say this, but I have NO idea where to go with this story. I really like writing it and I'm pretty sure I mentioned before that I have an idea for an upcoming chapter, but other than that, I'm stumped. I'm working on my Harry Potter/Enjonine AU thing right now which is why updates are slow. If you guys have ANY ideas whatsoever, please just request them in the reviews or drop a pm. Anything would help, because I refuse to cancel this story. I'm proud of the feedback it has gotten and really want to finish it. So once again, please just leave any requests or ideas below, even little prompts can tell. I just feel like I've gotten to that point in the story where I've just lost any and all ideas for plot development. So until next time, goodbye! I'll try to update as soon as possible.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: My apology for how long this took to be posted is a short author's note. I'll explain at the end of this chapter. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Les Miserables. Nothing's changed.**

_/ / / / / / / / / / / /_

Chapter 8 – The Phone call.

_/ / / / / / / / / / / /_

Neither Eponine Thenardier nor Aaron Enjolras were people who solved their problems by avoiding them. Even though they were both stubborn people, they usually still liked facing problems head on. However, after being interrogated by their friends, they both figured that avoidance would be the best idea in solving their problems.

Whenever Eponine saw Aaron at the Musain or around the University campus, she would give him a brief smile and he would simply toss a friendly nod in her direction. Eponine didn't want to get even more confused by her own feelings and Aaron refused to admit to himself that his friends were right; that yes, he really did like Eponine because that wasn't the case. He wouldn't allow himself to believe it. They were _just _friends and he didn't fall in love.

For the majority of the next two weeks after their friend's little interrogations, Eponine was either at work, school, or cooped up in her and Cosette's apartment doing schoolwork. The only time she ever risked running into Aaron or any of the other Les Amis was when she desperately needed a good cup of coffee or tea.

Eponine checked the time on the corner of the laptop she was tapping away on. 9:00 pm. How had she been typing her essay for nearly three hours? She let out an over-exaggerated sigh and pushed the stool she was occupying away from the counter in her tiny kitchen. Eponine turned around to see Cosette and Marius talking on the couch. Marius _still _practically lived with them but thankfully, he and Cosette's disgustingly cute couple behaviour didn't bother Eponine too much anymore.

"How's the essay doing?" Cosette asked Eponine sweetly as she and Marius turned to look at her from their spot on the couch. "Eh," Eponine shrugged. "It could be better. But it's almost done. I'll finish it up and fix it tomorrow," she said before letting out a long yawn. "God, I'm tired."

Before either Cosette or Marius had a chance to respond, there was a loud knock on their door. Eponine groaned in frustration and hopped off her stool. "Are you guys expecting anyone?"

Cosette and Marius each shook their heads and Eponine strolled over to the door and swung it open to see their friends standing at the door. "Hellooo," Courfeyrac greeted her in a sing-song voice.

"Great, exactly who I wanted showing up at my house at nine at night," Eponine rolled her eyes. "What are you guys doing here?" she couldn't help but scan the small group for Aaron, and her face softened a bit when she saw him standing towards the back of the group, with an almost amused expression on his face at her unexcited reaction to seeing them outside her door. "It's Friday night, we're University students, and we always hang out on Friday's," Grantaire supplied.

"So?" Eponine raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. "Soooo, that means we're coming in and hanging out," Musichetta told her with a smile as she pushed past the guys and entered the apartment and walked past her, followed by the rest of their group. "Hello, lovebirds," she smirked at Marius and Cosette.

"Is there a reason why it's impossible for me to get some peace and quiet on Friday nights? I just worked my ass off on an essay and was planning on going to bed," Eponine sighed.

"Come on, 'Ponine," Cosette pleaded. "You've done nothing but work hard this past week. You deserve some fun time with your friends." Marius agreed with his girlfriend and nodded. "She's right. Have some fun."

Eponine's eyes darted between all of her friends hopeful expressions and she gave in. "Fine, but you really can't keep on distracting me all the time. Unlike all of you, I have a scholarship to keep," she pointed out.

"It's just one night, don't worry," Courfeyrac slung an arm around her shoulder and led her to the small living area.

An hour or so later, the friends were deep in conversation; however two of the members of their little group weren't paying much attention.

"Eponine?" Aaron leaned over to her. "You've been pretty quiet."

Aaron's voice in her ear made her jump slightly and nearly choked on the sip of coke that she was swallowing. "I'm just exhausted from that essay," she answered.

"Oh," he nodded. "We haven't spoken in a while. How's school going?" _he's so damn polite, _Eponine thought to herself. _Avoiding him would be a lot easier if he wasn't always polite towards her._

"It's going well," she told him. "What about you?"

"It's becoming more difficult, but it's fine." Eponine simply nodded in response before an awkward silence took over.

"I bet the marble statue has never even kissed anyone," Grantaire sneered, bringing both Aaron and Eponine's attention back to their friends. "I'm sorry?" he asked with a raise of an eyebrow.

"That's not true," Combeferre said to Grantaire. "You dared Eponine to kiss him just the other week. We were all there."

Everyone nodded in agreement but Eponine and Aaron just blushed and averted there gaze to the floor.

"No, I meant a real kiss," Grantaire explained. "Those pathetic little pecks with that girl in high school barely even count."

"When did we get on the topic of me and who I've kissed?" Aaron asked in annoyance.

"We were all talking about first kisses," Jehan explained.

"Still, I don't think it matters," he crossed his arms.

"In my opinion, I just think Eponine should make out with you right now. You know, give you a proper kiss," Courfeyrac smirked at her.

Eponine groaned and shot a death glare in Courf's direction. "You're an idiot," she said through gritted teeth. "Don't lie, you would enjoy it," he said with an even larger smirk and before Eponine had a chance to threaten him or throw a witty response back at him, she was interrupted by the sound of her cell phone ringing it's annoying default ringtone.

"One sec, I'll kill you when I'm off the phone," she smiled sweetly at him and jumped up to grab her phone off of the kitchen counter.

"Hello?" Eponine answered and the whole group turned to look at her, curiously wondering who was calling her at this time of night. Eponine listened to the person on the other end of the phone and after only a few seconds her face fell. Eponine's panicked expression didn't go unnoticed by her friends and they all flashed her looks of confusion and concern.

"O-okay," she mumbled into the phone before she hung up and the phone dropped out of her grasp. Thankfully, it was a sturdy phone and probably didn't break. She stood there, frozen, her brown eyes staring into the space in front of her.

"Eponine, what's the matter?" Musichetta asked her, standing up cautiously, about to walk towards her friend.

"Yeah, who was on the phone?" Joly asked.

Eponine looked at her friends, the scared look still upon her face. "I-it was Gavroche," she said shakily. "Something happened to Azelma."

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

_**Oh no, cliff-hanger. Anyways, here's my explanation/apology. I have been super busy lately. I have a community theatre audition coming up and its a few days after my final exams, so I've just been super stressed. Plus, not knowing where to go with this story didn't help. I'm going to try and update as soon as possible. Review please. Bye, mwah! P.S. sorry for the shortness of this chapter.**_


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